Led Black (00:33)
What up, what up, what up everyone is Lab Black of the Uptown Voices podcast. I'm here with my brother, Octavio Blanco on a kind of dreary kind of Sunday. It's an important day. We have an important person on the line on the call with us today is Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier. She's running against Congressman Adan Espayal for the congressional 13th district. Daria Lisa, how you doing, sister? Good.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (00:57)
Hi, thank you so much for having me. Yes, I'm doing well. Thanks again. I'm really excited to be here.

Led Black (01:02)
Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Let's get right into it. I know you super busy. We don't have that much time. So let's just get right into it. You you're running against someone, you know, who's a formidable opponent, you know, deep roots in this community. Can you tell us a little bit about your personal connections to uptown and what was the, you know, what was the reason or the issue that you decided to throw your hat in the ring?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (01:21)
Yeah, so I actually never thought that I would run for office. I was recruited by the Justice Democrats, which is an organization that works essentially through community nominations. ⁓ you know, they reached out to me because they thought that this would, this made sense, right? That I would be ⁓ a candidate that could actually take on Espeyat and win. ⁓ you know, when they first approached me about it, I knew I had to seriously think about it because

know, every time I walk out my door, I see that more and more of my neighbors are living on the street. I see that more and more of them are lining up for food pantries. And the solutions to these issues are all structural solutions. They're things that we have the means to address. We just have leadership that lacks the political will to address it. And I've been organizing Uptown my entire adult life. I've been working.

to end mass incarceration. I've been working to challenge ICE and get folks out of ICE detention. I have been working on Palestinian liberation my entire adult life. these are issues that really matter to folks. When I was talking to folks at their doors ⁓ all of last year.

I began knocking on doors for Zeron in February and time and time again what I would hear is that folks are feeling squeezed, they're feeling squeezed by the affordability crisis that we're facing and they're feeling scared because we have fascism at our door and the leadership that we have hasn't done enough to challenge it and in many ways I think actually brought us to this moment where there's just a complete failure to push back.

on the very policies that are making life so difficult for working class people, not just in this district, but across the country, right? And so, you know, what I was hearing at the doors was like, housing is too expensive, like the rent is too damn high. I agree, right? Like those are things that I lived through as like a working class person. And they're things that, you know, as a working class candidate, like mean.

a lot to me and are things that I've thought extensively about, like addressing and how we can actually meet this moment at the scale that's necessary. You know, I've been organizing my entire adult life ⁓ and, ⁓ you know, I know what it means to bring people who are coming from all walks of life and may not agree on most things. We're all human. Like there's no two people who agree on everything, but how do we come together to actually ⁓ meet the need that

folks are experiencing and actually address those issues and make sure that we are delivering for folks. And I've been doing that at a grassroots level for a really long time.

Octavio Blanco (03:59)
Yeah.

Yeah, and as you say, ⁓ the biggest stressor in our district is

housing costs, know, they're definitely ⁓ out of control. They're pushing long time residents out. You know, we want to know a little bit more about if you have a practical plan for helping those folks. You know, they're the ones who helped bring this community back after the white flight of the 80s and 90s. So how can they actually afford to stay here going forward? And also I'd like to hear a little about

Darializa Avila Chevalier (04:18)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (04:39)
What's your main critique about how ⁓ Representative Espaillat has been handling the housing affordability crisis here in the district?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (04:50)
Yeah, I think those two issues actually go hand in hand. My opponent's biggest backers, the folks who fund his campaign, number one is AIPAC. And number two, it's corporate landlords. It's the very institutions that are pricing people out of the city. ⁓ And I don't think there is a coincidence that these are the two entities that are backing him. think, you

Led Black (05:13)
Okay. ⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (05:14)
with all of these issues that we're talking about, whether that's housing, whether that's, you know, childhood poverty, ⁓ these are things that we have the money for. And I know we have the money because I woke up every morning for two and a half years and saw my tax dollars, your tax dollars, all of our tax dollars being spent on bombs abroad, on destroying communities and houses and lives, right, entire universes ⁓ abroad.

And the same thing now, right, with this war in Iran. So we have the money to actually address these issues. What we lack is the political will because they're bought by these institutions that profit off of this. And with regard to the landlords, the corporate landlords, what we're seeing is leadership that answers to them as opposed to the needs of the community. That's why it costs $4,000 for a two-bedroom in Harlem.

$4,000 for a two-bedroom in Washington Heights. And these solutions aren't actually the solutions, quote unquote, that are being proposed, don't actually meet the needs of the people who live here. And continuously, we see them being pushed out more and more. And so instead, what we need to be doing is actually investing in the communities that are here. We need to be investing in NYCHA. I know a lot of folks are frustrated with city government, but the reality is that they should be frustrated with the federal government, because that's where the funding comes from.

It is our congressional representatives who should be bringing back the funds necessary to do the repairs that are so necessary in NYCHA. This district in particular is one of the districts with the most NYCHA units in the city. 80 % of the NYCHA units in Manhattan fall in this district. we are continuously ignoring NYCHA residents when they make up such a large percentage of our community.

Led Black (06:52)
Wow.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (07:02)
the conditions folks in are facing are horrific. There are folks without heat or hot water, waiting years for basic repairs, ⁓ lead paint, ⁓ rodents, and these are just undignified living conditions. And instead, we could just be investing in these repairs and hiring folks in NYCHA who are also folks who are more likely to need that type of employment. ⁓

engage in that. We can make sure we have a federal jobs guarantee because there is no shortage of jobs that our society would benefit from having social projects that would benefit all of us. And one of those is like preparing NYCHA. And like just imagine like the psychological impact that has on somebody to be able to like walk out of their door and be like, yeah, I fixed up my community and ⁓ it looks like a dignified place to live. It is a dignified place for my community and my loved ones to be.

⁓ That would solve so many economic issues for so many people. would solve a housing crisis that we're facing and would generally bring the cost of living down for everyone in the district. also, you know, the other thing is like going after like these bad landlords, the very same type of landlords that are backing my opponent, right? Making sure that folks have the right to organize, that they have the support they need to organize, whether that be legal support or community organizations that are like engaging in this type of tenant organizing.

⁓ and that we are cracking down on landlords that just disregard us. They only care about raising our rents and taking our money, but not the quality of life that we lead in these buildings.

Led Black (08:41)
That at least let me ask you a question. When you were knocking on those doors, what were some of the other issues you heard from your constituents, well, your possible constituents in District 13, and how do you plan on tackling them?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (08:53)
Yeah, you know, there were a lot of folks who were concerned about childhood poverty. ⁓ Folks were saying, you know, I want to have kids. want to raise like I want to raise a family here. But I don't know that I can afford to do that. There were folks who were just really like like myself distraught about seeing the slaughter and the carnage that we're seeing in Palestine, in Gaza, but and now in Iran, right. And seeing our money go towards that.

but not on the things that we all need here. Many of them are folks who have families in these other countries, folks who are, and it's not just in the Middle East, it's also in Venezuela. We were engaging in these regime change wars that are costing billions of dollars, right? Or people here are losing loved ones. And my opponent has ignored a lot of the folks who,

are trying to speak to him on that. And then that ties directly into this issue of ICE, where folks are terrified of ICE, rightfully so. This is an institution that is terrorizing our communities. ⁓ And my opponent has not done enough to stand up to ICE. Even to this day, he won't say abolish ICE, right? ⁓ And when my Mahmoud was taken ⁓ from the streets of Columbia or of Morningside near Columbia,

he did not meet with his family. He did not show up for him. many of us, or my friends, went to his office to try to speak to him and nothing. And the best he could do was issue a two-centus statement about protecting the rule of law when we know that ICE was already in violation of it just by the fact that it took him, you know? And so to have a representative who actually stands up for our communities, who's actually been

on the front lines of fighting for folks release from ICE detention. And the reason that I felt that I could go into organizer mode, so to speak, when the food was taken, was because I'd done that kind of work before. I got the news. I felt the shock that everyone was feeling. I tried to process it as quickly as I could. And then there was a moment where I just had to flip the switch and go into organizer mode because we needed to get them out. And we spent months.

trying to get him out, right? ⁓ And we need folks who understand that kind of work, that kind of struggle and what's necessary for pushing back on these institutions. It's not just the students who were taken because of their pro-Palestine stance. Eight days later, we saw over 200 Venezuelan migrants being deported to a concentration camp in El Salvador. So, you know, these issues are intimately connected. We need someone who actually understands how these issues are connected. I've been organizing around these issues.

for years, but I've also been working on a dissertation on these exact issues, right? And I have expert understanding of this because I have ⁓ an MPhil, a master's in philosophy, working on a PhD on the issue of immigration, specifically the issue of deportation and how it impacts our communities. what we need instead is dignified pathways to citizenship. We spend so, so much money on ICE.

And folks are jumping to get jobs in ICE because there are so little work opportunities otherwise. We could instead be using that money to invest in a federal jobs guarantee so that people can be, again, investing in their homes and repairing NYCHA or doing more of the repairs that need to happen with our public transit system or any of the millions of other ways that we could be investing that money in ways that actually help our communities. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (12:39)
You

Darializa Avila Chevalier (12:45)
rather than terrorizing.

Octavio Blanco (12:48)
Yeah, I think ⁓ it's absolutely true that we need to make sure that we are addressing all of these issues in a timely way, not behind the eight ball, not being caught with our on the back foot. ⁓ And ⁓ you mentioned so many issues ⁓ that are important. ⁓ I also think that this ⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (12:58)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (13:14)
this election that's coming up, the primaries in June, ⁓ feel like a generational choice. A lot of the issues that you're talking about are important to everyone, but they seem to have really ⁓ connected with younger ⁓ generations. We're seeing younger voters lean towards a more progressive approach.

⁓ But meanwhile, you know, the incumbent has a really solid support from older residents, right? A lot of our abuelas and our mommies and our papies out there, ⁓ they're still, you know, not convinced that the progressive approach is the way to go. you know, how do you plan to convince senior voters in our district that your platform and your candidacy offer a better path forward for them rather than sticking

with Adriano Espallat.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (14:12)
Yeah, I mean, I think that's true of some folks, but I would argue that there are plenty of elders who have been living through this struggle longer than I have, right? I mean, I'm only 32 and like, I'm starting to feel the squeeze in a way that, you know, I saw my mom feeling when growing up, right? And I saw my aunts and uncles feeling, and I think, you know, our elders...

They've been living through the struggle for some time. for a lot of them, they have a fixed income. They're living on social security. They can't afford for their rents to keep rising. They can't afford for these Medicare cuts to keep happening. Their quality of life is decreasing day by day because we are divesting from the social safety nets that they were told would be here to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

it's failing them. And I think many of them are disillusioned, actually, with the leadership we have because you know, Espeyed has been in power in some capacity and so in some role, whether that be the state assembly or the state senate or congress, for almost 30 years, right? And when it comes time for actually helping and delivering for folks, like it's community organizers that are showing up for these people, right? It's folks

who are organizing the mutual aid actions. It's folks who are organizing the civil disobedience protests to get their neighbors out of ICE detention. It's the people who are building people power and community power to organize the, know, a tenant block to get, to push back on a bad landlord, to push back on a new development that is going to price people out of the district, right? And I think folks are recognizing that. you know, with last year's run with Mayor Mamdani,

⁓ when I, like I first started knocking on doors, people were skeptical because they didn't know what it felt like to win really. And like, so many, came into this, into that, ⁓ feeling deeply depressed because I just spent two years throwing everything at the wall and doing everything I knew how to do as an organizer. Things weren't shifting. They weren't shifting here in our material conditions. And I was still waking up and seeing slaughter every single day. And it was really like.

Octavio Blanco (16:10)
Mm.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (16:29)
knocking on doors, talking to my neighbors that reminded me that there are so many more people with us and against us who want these changes to happen, but they just needed evidence that it could happen. And in organizing, we have a saying, the only way to prove to people that you can win is to win. And I think that's what we did. We took the work seriously. We knocked on people's doors. We took their concerns seriously. We listened. I always tell folks like,

Octavio Blanco (16:47)
You

Darializa Avila Chevalier (16:57)
When you're at the door, you should be spending more time listening than talking, right? Because people are telling you about what their life is. we are like, our responsibility is to take that information and turn it into policy that makes your life better. And, ⁓ you know, I think more and more folks are excited about this. And we know, we know that because we saw the numbers we saw in the primary that this district went towards Mayor Mamdani by 19 points.

despite the backing of my opponent's machine, And sorry, my opponent's machine's backing of Cuomo, right? Like ⁓ this district still went towards Zoram Amdani instead of Andrew Cuomo. So I think folks across the board are tired of old establishment politics. The old guard has failed us and folks are very clear on that. ⁓ And I think...

Led Black (17:36)
Well.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (17:52)
across generations folks are clear on that. don't think this is a young versus old thing with me and this by I think this is ⁓ a vision, an issue of vision. Who has the vision to actually meet this moment? Because this is a moment where we can either allow fascism to run through the door or we can fight back.

Led Black (18:12)
You you talked about a big shift earlier and I think probably one of the biggest shifts I've ever seen in my life is how people are now viewing the apartheid state of Israel. ⁓ I think, you know, ⁓ people are now across, you know, the political spectrum, Republican, Democrat. I think people have had it with Israel and the adventurism that we're now ⁓ stuck in. ⁓

Darializa Avila Chevalier (18:22)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Led Black (18:37)
And what have you seen in the community as far as that? And why do you think that's that's point issue in this election?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (18:44)
Yeah, I've been organizing around Palestine for a really long time. I've taken a lot of personal risks to do so. And part of that is because I had the privilege of visiting Palestine when I was quite young. I was 20 years old. And I spent time in the West Bank and all over, 48. ⁓

you know, I saw firsthand the conditions that Palestinians were living under and realizing that a lot of the things that, you know, are happening there are also reflecting here. Like sometimes it takes like leaving your context to and seeing somebody else's context to actually fully understand your own. And so when I like came back, it was the same summer that Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson and the Ferguson uprisings were happening. And I felt like

Life was grabbing me by the shoulders and making something very clear to me. that the issues we're facing here are intimately tied to our neighbors across the globe. It's not just our neighbors right next door. And I saw the way that Palestinians, for example, were just gone under extreme bombardment that year.

⁓ had ⁓ told folks in Ferguson, like how to deal with tear gas, for example, and like how to navigate that and like be safe in these kinds of conditions. And for me, knowing that like these things like our police system, right, ⁓ takes training from the Israeli ⁓ military, right, and knowing that things that are happening there intimately inform the things that are happening here.

It's always been really important to me to stand up for Palestinian human rights, both because it's just the morally correct thing to do, but also because it has a direct impact, whether folks succeed or not, has a direct impact on the daily lives of people who live here. ⁓ And so, ⁓ you know, I think folks are starting to recognize that. And I think the biggest example of that is the way AIPAC has a hand in our politics. It is one of the most influential lobbies in Washington.

and it is my opponent's biggest donor. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (21:01)
And yes, and please let's

define what for those who may not know what is APAC just before we, because I think that's important.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (21:09)
Yeah, AIPAC is basically the Israeli lobby, right? It is ⁓ a PAC that funds ⁓ politicians and helps them with their fundraising for their election. And it throws a lot of money into races. We just saw ⁓ this.

Two years ago, ⁓ when Jamal Bowman and Cory Bush were running for reelection, AIPAC spent record amounts of money to get them out, or $20 million for Jamal Bowman, And like that kind of money is buying our elections, right? Instead of having a democracy, we have a system where lobbies like AIPAC can just spend millions and millions and millions that we will never have in the second poorest congressional district in the country.

Led Black (21:31)
Right.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (21:58)
right, to make decisions for the people who live here and make it so that like our representatives are silent on the issues our people care about. And I think even beyond like the issue of Israel specifically, right, it speaks to a lack of moral courage. It speaks to a willingness to be bought and sold. It speaks to ⁓ a disdain for life in general, because for me, when ⁓ Zeran was running, when folks were like, like,

Yeah, but like the mayor doesn't like that office doesn't do anything on like foreign policy. And I'm like, yeah, that's that's true. But if I can trust him on this, that is a person who values life. And that's going to be reflective and reflected in every single policy perspective that is put forward. And I think the same is true of every office. And the same is true, particularly in an office where you do have influence over foreign policy and how our money is being spent. Is our money being spent?

in war and destruction and slaughter? Or is our money being spent in supporting our families here in life, in joy, in creating sustainable communities that thrive? And so for me, it tells you everything you need to know when I see ⁓ a candidate who takes APAC money.

Octavio Blanco (23:13)
Yeah, I think right now, I think in the past, I've always told a lead, you know, in the past, when I heard about APAC, I kind of shrugged my shoulders. But what I see with the ⁓ Zionist movement and its deep

Darializa Avila Chevalier (23:25)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (23:32)
entrenchment with AIPAC, then and how aggressive they've become both in Palestine and in the West Bank, displacing people, fracturing those communities and murdering people. You know, it's, it's a

it's not something that I can shrug my shoulders at anymore. And that's not to say, and that's why I'm very ⁓ clear to say that it's the Zionist movement because there's many people in the community, whether they be Israelis or Jews or anybody who also feel the same way about ⁓ being against what is happening in these places. So I think for many, many candidates,

Darializa Avila Chevalier (23:52)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (24:18)
taking of APAC money is becoming a ⁓

you know, it's a liability exactly. that being said though, that money talks, right? So how are you raising your money? And I know you're not taking APEC. I know you're not taking money from the real estate industry. So are you worried at all about being outspent by your opponent? How are you managing this very important part of campaigning?

Led Black (24:24)
of liability.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (24:25)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I think, you know.

To your point also, I'm very proud to have the endorsement of Jewish Voice for Peace Action. ⁓ It's an organization that has been at the front line of organizing against these injustices that we're seeing in Palestine, but also injustices here, right? They were one of the folks who was going to Esbayat's office actually to advocate for folks like Mahmoud, right? And I was working with them to do a lot of these direct actions to call for his

release and I've just, you know, have been in relationship with them for a really long time and I'm just really grateful to have their support. I am along to your question. I'm they're part of a larger coalition that we're building to, to, you know, actually win. Justice Democrats as an organization, the organization that recruited me to run, they have experience taking on AIPAC, right? They know what these fights look like.

⁓ And that's part of the support that they offer. DSA is another incredibly formidable organization that, both of them together, JD and just as Democrats and DSA, they helped AOC, right? And other candidates come from working class backgrounds and take on ⁓ these establishment politicians who folks thought were just undefeatable, right? ⁓

And now, like we have, you know, all these socialists in office who are doing incredible work. We have, you know, Mayor Mamdani showing us, you

what ⁓ effective ⁓ governance can look like.

Octavio Blanco (26:29)
⁓ shoot.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (26:35)
yeah, no, we have we have all these folks in office, socialists in office that DSA has like has supported right and helped come into office to prove that like a democratic socialist framework is what is popular and is what can deliver for people. ⁓ And, you know, I have the backing of folks like track APAC folks like care action folks like pal pack and making sure we're also

building in the community with community organizers and organizations that are ⁓ focused on winning this race. We know we're going to be outspent, but we also know that people power will always outdo ⁓ money. Organized people will always be organized money. And so ⁓ I'm excited because we are really building a ground game that I think is going to be

incomparable in this race.

Led Black (27:37)
You know, it's interesting that Alisa, like, you know, in a community like ours, it's very heavily Latino, the word socialist, you know, has certain connotations. And, ⁓ you know, they look at it mistrust, they think about Cuba, Venezuela, right, and so on and so forth. So what are your direct messages to Latinos who are hesitant, you know, about your candidate because you're democratic socialist? And what does that mean to you?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (27:43)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I I think of the policies themselves that are socialist policies. Medicare is a very popular policy. It's a socialist policy, right? ⁓ Thinking about social security, that is a socialist policy, right? And I think these are the policies that actually make life dignified for people. Working people deserve a dignified life. They deserve dignified work as well, right? Not work that is just exploitation. And when you come home, you can't even like enjoy life with your family or like...

any downtime or the things that make life meaningful. For me, democratic socialism is about taking your own labor back, right, to make it something that's actually feeding your life and not just like getting you by for for mere survival, right? It is about coming together as a community to like the democratic aspect of it, right? And actually having a democratic society, right? As opposed to now where

you have these like corporate interests like AIPAC like corporate lobbies, like AI, like we just saw in North Carolina with Nidhalam's race, where these people are, this is not a democracy when millions of dollars can be thrown into a race, right, and be decided for the working people of a district, right, and taking that voice away from them. So for me, democratic socialism is about bringing back democracy. It's about ensuring that

people have a voice in their local politics and their national politics and that they are able to actually have their basic needs met so they can lead a dignified life.

Octavio Blanco (29:36)
Yeah, I think that's important. I think that when people sort of conflate ⁓ communism with ⁓ socialism, we have to educate folks about the distinction. And a lot of people sort of, ⁓ you know, they use both of the terms.

very, very indiscriminately. like you say, there's a lot of things that Americans ⁓ use on a daily basis for their health, for their homes, for their lives that are socialist principles.

⁓ And ⁓ that's where this ⁓ party ⁓ that's been behind you sort of ⁓ falls. It's not what people are talking about ⁓ running away from because I mean, you yourself and your family, you've seen ⁓ how ⁓ those kinds of things have pushed people away. I believe your grandfather came to the United States. You wanna talk a little bit about

Darializa Avila Chevalier (30:24)
Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (30:39)
about that, about how his ⁓ move to the United States and his background sort of impacted your candidacy and not just your candidacy, but just your worldview?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (30:52)
Yeah,

yeah, my, my grandfather was part of the resistance against Trujillo and Balaguer in the Dominican Republic. These were two US backed dictators ⁓ who stole his youth, who, you know, repressed journalists, who repressed students, who disappeared people, ⁓ who terrorized our country. ⁓ And, you know, I, my parents were both immigrants themselves from the Dominican Republic.

And then my grandfather came over with them. my mom still has memories of childhood memories of him going into hiding to avoid arrest or torture or worse, because that was the era that he grew up under. And he was born at a time where Trujillo was already in power. was at the height of his power.

when my grandfather was old enough to make a decision for himself about how he was going to respond to this, right? ⁓ But we are currently in a moment where we don't have to allow Trump to become, you know, a dictator. We can fight back. And ⁓ for me as an organizer, you know, over the years, I've had wins and I'm very proud of those wins. And I look to them with great pride and fondness, but we need to meet this moment at scale.

And so when I was approached by Justice Democrats about running, I knew that, you know, this was something that I had to take seriously because we are all going to have to be brave in this moment and do a little more to fight back this fascism that we're facing. ⁓ And that's, know, I think this is how I'm choosing to show up, to be a little bit braver and do the thing that, you know, that is required of us to actually meet this moment.

Led Black (32:40)
You know, not at least, so our community has a lot of mom and pop businesses right now and a lot of them are struggling. You know, when you walk around the Heights, Harlem, you see a lot of these storefronts closing. And there's also like this influx of like corporate, you know, retail coming uptown. Do you have a plan to help businesses strive, you know, uptown?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (32:54)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think part of it has a lot to do with the very same real estate issues that we're talking about when we're talking about housing. ⁓ You know, these small businesses are what make New York, New York, otherwise it's just going to look like suburbia anywhere else, right? And like having these corporations coming in and replacing these mom and pop shops ⁓ is taking away the culture and the character of the city, but it's also taking away people's livelihoods. And what I see more and more is that it's a slow process, right? You see...

Like you go to the restaurant or you go to the store and all of a sudden the thing you've been paying, you know, you've been paying a dollar fifty for a pastelito for however long. And then all of sudden it's a two dollar pastelito. All of a sudden it's a three dollar pastelito. Right. And it's because their rents keep rising. Right. It's because it's becoming unaffordable. The cost of energy keeps rising. All of these things that are just basic necessities for running a business are getting harder and harder for small business owners to meet.

Folks are also struggling with their employees, for example, who don't have access to healthcare. If we're making sure that we are doing a comprehensive ⁓ social safety net where everyone can be okay, we're also supporting small businesses. We're making it so that folks can get, if we have Medicare for all, it means that small businesses don't have to worry about their employees not having healthcare. That their employees could just go to the doctor before they get so sick they can no longer work.

They can make sure that we are handling bad landlords with our rents still continue to rise without limit. Make sure that they actually can afford to stay in their place of business. We can make sure that we're tackling the monopolization of ⁓ and hikes that we're seeing in these ⁓ energy companies ⁓ that are making things harder for everybody, not just businesses, but in our homes. We pay our utilities, our utilities are going up.

⁓ And so I think addressing all of these in a really comprehensive way ⁓ is what is going to actually, ⁓ you know, meet all of these issues that we're facing. And I think like there's no like one size fits all solution to problems that were created through like a vast array of like

Policy failures, right? There's so many things that are happening all at once, right? That are creating this one outcome, right? Of like small business closing. And it means that we're gonna have to tackle all of those different ⁓ policy failures, right? ⁓ To ensure that we're actually delivering for the people who are affected by this.

Octavio Blanco (35:36)
Yeah, so we're running up on time. So before we let you go, please tell our audience how they can help, where they can find you, and things like that. How can they be a part of what you're trying to do?

Darializa Avila Chevalier (35:54)
Yeah, I mean, I would love to see folks out the doors. If folks want to come out and canvas with us, we are canvassing regularly. You can come and sign up for a canvas on our website at DairyLisaForCongress.com. You can also find us on Instagram or Twitter at DairyLisaForNY. And yeah, please, please come join our movement. We are collecting petition signatures right now to get on the ballot. And we are

just really excited about what we're building and talking to our neighbors about all of these issues. So thank you all so much for having me. I'm just so grateful to be able to speak with you all today. And yeah, I hope to talk more soon at some point and get to connect again.

Led Black (36:38)
So we would love to have you on again. You know, I think this is an important race. We've had Oscar and we may have the congressman as well. But like I said, I think things are coming to a head in this country. And I think leadership is more important than ever. So thank you for being on the show and we would love to have you back. Thank you so much.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (36:40)
Thank

Yeah.

Yeah.

Octavio Blanco (36:57)
Yeah, yeah,

thank you very much. And we definitely want to have you back soon. So we'll be in touch. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Darializa Avila Chevalier (37:03)
Thank you, we'll take care, have a lovely Sunday.

Led Black (37:05)
Have a great day.

You too. Bye bye.

I'm Tommy. What's up, brother?

Octavio Blanco (37:09)
Hey man, hey, how's it going?

Led Black (37:11)
It's good interview, man, I liked it.

Octavio Blanco (37:12)
⁓ That was good. to, ⁓ you know, I think these are important issues, the generational issue. I like how she ⁓ pushed back on that saying that, no, actually, a lot of people who have been in this community for so long ⁓ are connecting with her message ⁓ because they've been living through these issues for generations.

and still haven't seen ⁓ resolution, right? Their housing is still too expensive. They're still being pushed out. Their businesses aren't thriving because the rents are too high. It's hard to find food, ⁓ employment opportunities. ⁓ Still need to materialize within our own community. ⁓ One of the poorest congressional districts.

in the country. yeah, it's an important time. ⁓

Led Black (38:16)
I agree. mean, like right now, you know, we're I think in day eight of this war of choice. And, know, from, you know, again, no one can match America, you know, in terms of weaponry and money and funds. And it's America and Israel, you know, teaming up with Iran. But what I'm seeing now is that like, you know, there were so many mistakes made early on because Trump is just a baboso and he's just a

just so much of an ego maniac that we're in this situation. And I don't think we're gonna extricate ourselves out of this anytime soon. Iran has as, I say this all the time, if the Iranians were white, we'd be talking about what military geniuses they are.

Right. And I was actually very disappointed with Jon Stewart, who I love. I love Jon Stewart. But, he his take on it was that Iran is just attacking everybody. And it's like this this weird, just a hateful kind of like just attacking it. But that's not what they're doing. Right. They're attacking, you know, American military bases. Right. ⁓ You know, that those those those military bases combined are worth trillions of dollars. The last.

few decades, three plus decades were spent on building this vast infrastructure. within a week, Iran has destroyed it all. And Israel's feeling it now. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the airport is feeling it. I think we're in a time that we've never been before. And I think it goes back to our uncritical support of Israel. And Marco Rubio said it, right? He said,

that the reason that we're in, the stupidest shit ever, right? He's like, it wasn't, it was the reason we attacked Iran is because we knew Israel was gonna attack Iran, therefore Iran was gonna attack us. So I mean, it's just like the stupidest, but he let the caliphate back, right? He let it be known that the reason we're doing this is for Israel, right? And I think people, think this speaks to Donnelly's, ⁓ I think campaign is that people are fed up.

Octavio Blanco (40:21)
Right.

Led Black (40:27)
with our uncritical support of Israel. I think we've crossed the Rubicon. I think both parties are upset. And I think we're in a new place now. And I also feel that this war is not trending the way America wanted, although not America, the way Trump and Israel wanted. And I'm very concerned that either America will use a nuclear bomb. There's no such thing as a tactical nuclear bomb. It's a nuclear bomb regardless.

So I do definitely think that we're uncharted territory and this does feel like the war of apocalypse like they speak of in the Bible. Your thoughts, brother?

Octavio Blanco (41:05)
Well,

yeah, I, God, you know, the.

The blind backing of Israel by the United States is very, very scary at this day and age because the way that Israel has been going about things with the genocide in Palestine, with its... ⁓

the way that the settlers are acting towards ⁓ the people in the West Bank and pushing them out of their homes and setting fire to their homes. Anybody with a conscience would have to be able to say that we just can't get behind that. It's just not right. ⁓

Then also, mean, honestly, we've spoken about this. My mind has been sort of spinning for the last eight days because I haven't been given any kind of ⁓ explanation by this administration as to why we're doing this. What is it in our national interests that are being threatened? What is even the end game? The only explanation that I've gotten was from Marco Rubio's

moment of ⁓ candor, which I'm sure he wants to kick himself for doing that, saying it's ⁓ because Israel was going to do something. So we had to get in there and do something first. So we spoke about this the other night. I want our viewers to understand that, you know,

the idea that the United States can go in and ⁓ even if it decapitates the leadership of Iran, that it's gonna just win a war within a week or two or three is very, very, very like... ⁓

fantastical thinking. It's not based in reality. A lot of people may not remember the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s. That was a bloody, bloody, bloody war between those two neighbors. One in which Iran saw on the high end of the tabulations around 600,000 people.

die of its own people. Now also don't forget that Iran when it was fighting against Iraq used what they called human waves and these were barely armed sometimes unarmed battalions of thousands

Led Black (43:53)
No, was actually,

the first wave was actually children, Right, busloads of children went on and they put on their little martyrdom bandana and they crossed those minefields to allow their soldiers to come behind them and do, know, that's what I'm saying. think what no one understands is the culture of martyrdom that is such a part of Shiism.

Octavio Blanco (43:57)
and children.

Led Black (44:19)
Right, and I think that's where the biggest miscalculation came from, Israel believed that, you know, we're going to kill the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, right? And everything is so on Saturday we kill him, Sunday, you know, the government collapses, and Monday, you know, everything's, the oil markets and, you know, the global financial markets are stabilized. That was the biggest miscalculation.

And again, it was interesting as I told the Khomeini was 86 years old. He had prostate cancer, right? He could have fled to Moscow. He could have gone somewhere in Iran and be safe, but he died in his office with his children, right? And by him, this is for someone like him, it doesn't end better than that, right? He will be forever immortalized as the great martyr, right? And again, ⁓

Last episode, last week, I did a whole thing about how martyrdom is so important to Shiism. But now, Ayatollah Khomeini, he's on that level of Hussein. He's on a different level now because you martyred him. again, this is gonna lead, again, first of all, there was a lot of people that hated the Ayatollah in Iran, but not anymore. His blood has cemented that Iranian nation. And again,

Iran is not, Iran is former Persia, right? These are people that go back thousands of years, right? And these are brilliant people, right? And they're not gonna take this lying down. So you might have some Iranian Americans cheering here, but in Iran, they're focused and they're doing damage. And the more we do to them, the more they wanna do in return. And again, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this, right?

And we're in a different place and I do think that Americans will rule the day that we did this.

Octavio Blanco (46:16)
Well, what's interesting, a couple of things. One is just the level of education in Iran is extremely high. as much as it is a ⁓ religious country ruled by religious theocracy, it's also, they do revere education and it's one of the most highly educated countries in the world. ⁓

Led Black (46:33)
So, the accuracy right here.

Octavio Blanco (46:47)
I think that politically it's...

What's interesting, and we've discussed this as well, is that this seems to be the last sort of the final fight of the United States ⁓ behind Israel. I think that one of the key statistics that I heard in terms of who's running the show here was who's supporting this action. So in Israel, Israelis are pretty much

% I think was the last statistic that I heard, you know, in favor of this war. In the United States, it's the first time that a U.S. president has taken the country to war without a majority support from the people. Most Americans are against this war. So that should just illuminate the reason

Led Black (47:49)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (47:49)
or

who is driving this war. It's not because the United States wants to go to war. It's not because the people of the United States want to go to war. It's because Netanyahu and Israel wanted to go to war. And we've seen, as we were discussing with Dario Elisa, ⁓ how much AIPAC contributes to this. We've seen US senators who, when confronted with the ⁓ murders

of Americans at the hands of Israelis ⁓ basically say, doesn't matter, we're behind Israel. ⁓ So there is definitely a growing view, which seems to be correct, that many of our elected representatives

are not holding our American lives and our American interests ahead of the Israeli interests, which is a problem. It's a problem. I'm all for having our allies and being behind our allies and making sure that our allies feel ⁓ secure, but not at the expense of our own American lives.

Led Black (48:53)
Yeah, it's a problem, yep. ⁓

Octavio Blanco (49:11)
own American people. this might be that last straw that after this war I wonder whether or not Israel is going to actually be able to count on the United States

billions of dollars in aid because I do feel that most Americans eyes are open and they are no longer on that train of helping Israel blindly because they've seen these horrible images. Horrible. And if you have a, yeah, go ahead, sorry.

Led Black (49:43)
Mm-hmm.

Yep. But I think that... I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Octavio Blanco (49:52)
I'm just my conclusion was just what I've said over and over again. If you have a conscience and you see the images of the devastation that's happening in Palestine, the way that ⁓ the people of the West Bank are being treated and now.

the bombing of civilians in throughout the Middle East and Iran. That's not to say that I support Iran at all. don't. I think Iran has huge problems. But ⁓ I truly believe that this was not the way to resolve them. I think that in the, yeah, go ahead.

Led Black (50:33)
But I think that's the reason

though. Israel knows that. Israel knows that it has lost the war of public opinion. It knows that both sides are done with Israel and that getting all that money while we over here are just basically scrambling for basics, I think that they knew that that free ride is running out.

So I think that's why they did this. That's why they did this. think they they purposely killed Ayatollah, right, because it was them, right, to to to make this a forever war. I wouldn't we're not going back. Right. So it's like I think it was a point of no return. We're like, oh, you may not like us, but now now we're completely in bed with each other. Right. Like Netanyahu has been wanting this for the last 30 years. Right. But only Trump was stupid enough to go for

Right. And Biden was a fucking asshole, too. Right. Like this is Biden genocide. I mean, like, let's just be honest. But this was under Biden and and and Kamala didn't know didn't know how to get out of out of the way enough. And that's why she lost. If you looked at the DNC, the DNC is not putting out the report. They did a postmortem. Right. But they're not putting it out. Right. Because the conclusion was we lost because of our support for Israel. Right. That's that's the conclusion. Right. And I also think that.

The whole EPSTNC files, we talk about the EPSTNC files, right?

Pedophiles are horrible, but it's bigger than pedophilia. What the Epstein files shows us, if they ever came out, you know, authoritatively, is how much control Israel has over America. How much control they have over our politicians, right? Now, at least I made a point, like, Jamal Bowman was gonna win that election, and they gave one guy like $20 million to run against him, right? Cori Bush was gonna win that election, and they say, no, not on the iWatch, right?

That's a subversion of democracy, right? But we're at a point now where, you know, we have stepped into dictatorship and it might not even matter how we feel about Israel and the support of Israel. So what I'm saying is like, I think we really fucked it up on both sides, right? Schumer and Jeffries, like we talked before, they could have pushed that war resolutions act prior to the attack on Iran.

But Schumer and Jefferies knew what was happening on the weekend and said, let's do it next week, knowing full well what was gonna happen. So what I'm saying is that like, it's a bipartisan ⁓ betrayal of the American people. And that's why I think we do need to clean house. ⁓ And we're somewhere else with it. But right now we're in uncharted territory. We don't know where this is going. We don't know if nukes are gonna be used.

We know for a fact that you have not, if anything, you have unleashed the Iranian nation, right? You have unleashed them. You ⁓ galvanized them to fight against America. We're hearing that Russia and China are helping out, right? It's funny, I saw a thing today and they were like, basically there was a hotel or a building in, I think Saudi or Kuwait, I Saudi Arabia or UAE.

And Iran hit only one part of the building where the CIA had their office. Right. And the guy's like, ⁓ that's good to show you that the Russian intelligence helped out and the Iranians couldn't do it. My man, America and Israel are attacking them together. So how are you talking about Russia or China when America and Israel are fighting together? You see what I'm saying? It's like we always have this like, that's bad. If that's bad, what is it what we're doing? Right.

Octavio Blanco (53:58)
Mm.

Led Black (54:21)
And that's the thing, like, Nainahu comes to America and gets like 37 standing ovations, you know, from both sides. You know what mean? And so that's, this is what happens when you're politically.

Octavio Blanco (54:30)
⁓ And

a huge photo op with all of his Democrat stooges.

Led Black (54:37)
Yeah, Cory Booker tried to hide in that picture because he wanted to be there, but it didn't want to be seen. Right. That's what I'm saying. It's like they have bought our political establishment and we have to now find a way out. But it won't be easy because we have a dictator in charge and every war is costing a billion dollars a day. A billion. Right.

Octavio Blanco (54:39)
You

Yeah, maybe more because it's

extreme. People don't know what goes into fighting a war. People don't know about the logistics involved. People don't know how much you need to invest to make sure that you got people on the ground, that you got gasoline, that you got food, that you got tents, that you got water, that you got all the stuff that you need. That all costs money. All the airplanes that we're sending over there, that all costs money. It's extremely, extremely costly. Plus, not to mention

all of the infrastructure that we're losing on our bases, our radars, our military ⁓ that we've built up in that region is being, you know, picked apart ⁓ and we're not hearing about it. ⁓ And then finally, and then finally, like, this is a Trump, a Trump special. Here's a man who said he was gonna keep us out of war. Here's a man who said he was fighting for the common and poor and un...

Led Black (55:42)
⁓

Octavio Blanco (55:58)
you know, people. ⁓ And here he is spending trillions of dollars on this on this war billion, multiple billions of dollars on this war. Meanwhile, cutting people's Medicare, ⁓ cutting people's snap benefits, cutting people's everyday needs that they need to go see the doctor that they need to pay their rent that they need to

to pay for their food and groceries. And then sending those prices even higher because as we know, everything that you buy in your supermarket had to be brought there on a truck, a boat, an airplane, and all that stuff uses gasoline and oil and diesel and all that is going through the roof right now because none of it is being.

allowed to leave ⁓ the Middle East because the Strait of Hormuz, where like a huge percentage of our energy ⁓ is derived from, is blockaded, basically. ⁓ we, know, the oil companies don't have enough space to store the oil that they're producing. They've run out of space. It's incredible.

Led Black (57:15)
Yeah, and also with these high oil prices that are on their way up, know, Russia's doing well. Russia's like, bet, let's go, there's more money for us, right? This is such a disaster. ⁓ But I also think that like, you know, this is not even working for Trump at this point, right? So he had a hard time, he was gonna have a hard time in this election coming up in November, but now it's even worse.

Right. It's like, you you have I couldn't believe the other day I saw on TV. It was Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes on together talking about vote Democrat. Right. When you lose Alex Jones, that motherfucker is batshit crazy. When you lose Alex Jones, you lost a lot. Right. But what?

Octavio Blanco (57:53)
Yeah.

You

and Nick Fuentes

who's a complete racist. When you lose him, what the hell is going on?

Led Black (58:06)
Yeah, but Nick

Fuentes, think, a certain stratum, right? But Alex Jones is old school, you know what mean? He's been around forever. There's a longstanding relationship that conservatives have with Alex Jones, right? Nick Fuentes is the new kid on the block, and he's gay and Mexican, right? You know what mean? Alex Jones is like a white man, you know what Crazy, batshit white man, right?

So you lose him, you lost a lot. And again, I keep going back. Every day I think we're not having an election in November. I don't think that election is gonna happen. I don't think it's coming, because if he lets it, if it's allowed to happen, it's over for him. It's over for Mauga, right? And I don't think.

Octavio Blanco (58:57)
Well, he said

it himself. If he if if the Democrats take over in Congress, they're going to impeach him. And I don't think this impeachment will be just the impeachment. And then you're done. I think they're going to try to impeach him and and then get him out of power. I think that's what needs to happen.

Led Black (59:16)
Yeah, I think people have a thirst for justice, Both sides are, I think, are done with the bullshit and everyone wants to vote against him. Everyone wants to put their little ⁓ grain of sand in that voting booth and vote against the tyrant. But to me, he does not want to lose. I think, I read somewhere that they're trying to extend the war to September, right? So not the five weeks they're talking about, right?

And you know the fact...

Octavio Blanco (59:45)
This war is gonna

go on forever, man. This war is not gonna end. Maybe not in my lifetime. I don't know how this is gonna go. I really don't know how this is gonna go. And I gotta...

Led Black (59:56)
To be honest, I don't know how

it lasts that long either. I don't know how it could last that long with the amount of pounding that Israel and America are taking right now, right? I think the Iranians have a higher pain tolerance than we do, right? And, you know, I just don't know, right? I think conventional wisdom is out the window. We don't know how this ends. know, maybe someone, they invoked the 25th, right?

Octavio Blanco (1:00:01)
True true.

Definitely.

Led Black (1:00:26)
I think even within the, has to be some palace intrigue, right? ⁓ 25th is when they invoke the 25th is when they basically say the president is unfit to lead. right. ⁓ You know, who knows, right? I'm just saying like, and again, we're not getting any information, right? So far, Iran has exacted all this damage with six soldiers dead. That doesn't even make sense.

Octavio Blanco (1:00:31)
What's the 25th? Tell me again what's the 25th?

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Led Black (1:00:56)
That doesn't even make sense.

Octavio Blanco (1:00:56)
And they've been saying how we control the airspace, but where's all the video of our Air Force flying over the airspace, giving thumbs up and the bombing videos? Where is that? We saw that in the Gulf War every single day.

Led Black (1:01:03)
Bye.

Where's that at?

Octavio Blanco (1:01:17)
we're not seeing it in Iran. I don't see any of that stuff coming out of out of Iran. So I am highly doubtful that we actually control the airspace the way that we say that we do, because otherwise we'd be seeing images of that every single day. ⁓ Here's one thing I want to say. I want to push back a little bit, because from the polls that I'm seeing, like Republicans are still behind, behind Trump, like the the Republican people, they seem to still be behind Trump, even though

Led Black (1:01:32)
You

Octavio Blanco (1:01:47)
People like, you know, these crazies on the the MAGA sphere are questioning it. Most of the polls seem to indicate that Trump still has strong support amongst Republicans. What's what's the what am I missing? What do you think that I'm missing here?

Led Black (1:02:03)
I think

those polls are behind public sentiment. Again, that's why think social is interesting. You see a lot of Trump supporters, like I seen a video where they're at the gas station, you know what I mean? And they're ripping off the Trump stickers off their pickup trucks, right? So I think the polling, I think is behind public sentiment. ⁓ I also think that...

Octavio Blanco (1:02:08)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Led Black (1:02:27)
once we start seeing some more truth, right, because we're not getting truth, right, like once we see how many soldiers are actually dying, I think things are gonna change quickly. And I also wanna talk about like, you know, how you're not even seeing what's happening in Israel, right? In Israel, I you get like imprisoned if you show cellular, cell phone video of what's happening in Israel, right? So I think.

you know, we're someplace else with it. But again, it's deeply entrenched, right? We've been this way for too long. So I think that those things are gonna change, but I definitely don't feel that the polls are completely accurate when it comes to this.

Octavio Blanco (1:03:08)
Yeah, I just want to shout out to one of our one of our viewers Angela Ortiz, who's watching on Facebook, he's commenting that this is bankrupting our democracy. And he also mentions that you don't need planes in the air to dominate the airspace in the 21st century that that may be true. I'm no military expert, but I still you know, I feel that this administration's first instinct is to lie.

And so I have no confidence at all in any of the information that this administration is putting out there. I still have no idea why we even entered this war besides the fact that it's because of Israel, but I haven't, there's been no explanation as to why this is in America's best interest. This administration has been lying about everything. We see it in Minneapolis, we see it.

Led Black (1:03:58)
Mm-hmm.

Octavio Blanco (1:04:04)
everywhere. So I think that and when and what we also see is that when in times of war, mainstream media falls in line, and it just eats up all the information as if it was as if it was doctrine as if it was true, you know, because now we're at war. But that's just so dangerous. So everything that everything that this administration puts out, I need to see proof I need to see. I need to see explanation. And that's what they don't do. That's what they never will do. And that's anti democratic.

Led Black (1:04:13)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, shout out to Angelo. I think he's right, though. I do think that you don't need like, you know, the whole basis of, you know, weak we got, we control the air. You don't control the air. And these missiles, you know, the hypersonic missiles that America doesn't even have, they could get from Tehran to Israel in five fucking minutes. Right. It's changing the game. Like I was saying, Iran has rewritten the rules of modern warfare.

think about that shit. And again, I want to push back a little bit that is not just the Trump administration, right? It's like to your point, it's everyone, you know, falling in line. So the great Rachel Maddow, right? Who I used to fuck with. I used to really like Rachel Maddow, right? But the other day, she did, you know how she always like, she always teases it out. She's going to tell you like a whole long story. So she was like, you want to know who's behind this war? I'll tell you. And she goes into this whole like fucking tirade. And then she tells you, you know, who really wants this war?

It's the Gulf States. It's Saudi Arabia, it's UAO, but not the state that's shooting, like what are you talking about? And Rachel Maddow is ⁓ a left-wing darling, right? She's on MSNOW, our side. But it goes to show you they're not on our side either, right? They are shilling for Israel. And everyone shills for Israel. And I think people in this country have had it.

Octavio Blanco (1:05:34)
Alright. ⁓

You know, I want to say this. think that you're I mean, I think it's true. They are shilling for Israel. I don't like to say shilling for Israel. I think that for especially for that generation, which I would say is probably like my generation. We've been so indoctrinated.

with protecting Israel. It's part of our psyche and and it was for good reason. I think my my opinion for for many years, maybe it was for good reason. We can we can just we I know I know you disagree with that. We would that's a whole other episode. That's a whole other episode. But I'll but forget but forget for wait, forget that forget what I said. Okay, okay.

Led Black (1:06:26)
I disagree wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. It's colonial entity from the beginning. From the beginning. We've been fooled. We've been fooled to support this colonizing

apartheid state. Yes. It's never been good. Ever.

Octavio Blanco (1:06:40)
Okay, okay, okay, okay. You're

fine, fine, fine. But it is in our psyche. It's it's sort of part of our for many of us. It's part of our subconscious. And it's only now that we're seeing the way that Israel is acting that we're being shaken from it. And so I think liberal media has always skewed that way is always had that narrative and

And it goes to show how the left, and you've said this before, and I agree with you before. It's like, if you look at the spectrum of politics, you've got the right, and then you've got the left. But the left that we're talking about, even the Maddow left, is like very, very close to being on the right, if not partly even on the right. What we're seeing now is the left.

expanding beyond where it's been traditionally. And I think that's what people are waking up to, that what we consider to be the left is actually just Republican light. And what we're now seeing is that if you really want to be a Democrat, if you really want to be somebody who is ⁓ against the policies of fascism in the United States and abroad,

you've got to get further down on the spectrum of leftism. And that's socialism, I think. I think that's partly why the socialist movement is actually seeing so much pickup. It's not communism, you know, like that's the extreme, but

Led Black (1:08:13)
Yeah, but.

But I I think

it's too generous though to just kind of like, it's the way we've been. Rachel Maddow knows better. Rachel Maddow knows better, right? She was told, hey you, I need you to do your thing, sell this, right? So that is the definition of shilling. She knows better. She's not a right wing Christian, right? This is not like a personal to her. She knows better. She knows that this is not about the side,

Again, I'm not saying Saudi Arabia didn't want this. Of course they did. Of course they did, UAE, of course they did. But to somehow say they're the main fucking instigator in this when Israel is the one that actually attacked first is malpractice. And it also leads, that's why the American people are rejecting everybody, right? They're saying, I'm not fucking with any of y'all because all of y'all are lying. And what I'm saying is when you see the sentiment on social, I think,

I think that's why I like social media, right? Because I think you get a more accurate, ⁓ like, check than on mainstream media. And to be honest, mainstream media is almost obsolete at this point, right? If you wanna know what's happening, turning on your TV is not gonna tell you. And what I'm saying, I think we're always too generous with the enemies of real deal people.

And Rachel Maddow should know better. It's not she knows better. She did this because it's her job to do this. It's her job to lie to us. And now I think people are working up that both sides are lying. And what's messed up is that the Democratic Party and Democratic ⁓ commentators, instead of following that lane, instead of listening to the people, they're letting ⁓ Clandis Owens, you know, take the lead. They're letting

They're letting Nick Fuentes take the lead, right? They're letting all these people go in that lane. It's a real lane, right? Like Israel has never been an ally of the United States. Israel has only taken from us. Israel from the very beginning was an apartheid state. From the very beginning, they performed ⁓ ethnic cleansing. And we've been lied to by people since the very beginning. It has never been good. It never makes sense to install a

⁓ an artificial thing in the middle of something else. It never makes sense. And at this point, when we're billions, trillions of dollars in, we're starting to see that, right? We've been fooled by everyone and it has never been right. It has never been good.

Octavio Blanco (1:10:57)
Yeah, I think that we're coming up on the, we're over the hour. I'm willing to keep going. ⁓ But I know that we've got other things to do. But one thing that we've talked about a lot is that ⁓ here we are at a moment in time where we have defended Israel for generations. And whether or not that's right or wrong, it's just the fact. But now we're at a moment in time where here in the United States,

We are struggling to give our people the basic necessities of life. Whereas Israel, a place that ⁓

has depended on us for generations. They have ⁓ free education, they have free health care, they have so many things that we would love to have in this country but won't have and can't have as long as we continue to give Israel like billions and billions of dollars ⁓ in aid every year.

Led Black (1:12:01)
Yeah, I mean, I think we're watching the end of the American experiment. ⁓ The Chinese century has begun in earnest. And it's because we didn't know enough to not let our leaders ⁓ play us and take everything away. Like you said, we have crumbling infrastructure, ⁓ and we put Israel's first class everywhere. And they've sucked the lifeblood out of us.

And I do feel in certain ways that the point is to create like a Pax Judaica, right? To make themselves a superpower, greater Israel, right? Greater Israel is something we never talked about maybe, you know, since last year, right? And now we realize that's the whole end goal to create this greater state of Israel that America paid for, that America sacrificed his own to give to someone else. And I think that that's gonna have consequences.

And I do feel that we're someplace else with it. And we don't know where this is going, but we're watching the collapse of America right in front of our eyes.

Octavio Blanco (1:13:10)
Yeah, yeah, I think you're right that we're in this really, really tough situation. Led, I think we've got to call it there. Thanks to everybody who's been watching. I appreciate your time and everybody have a great Sunday.

Led Black (1:13:18)
Yes,

Peace, love as the uptown way.