Greta Thunberg, Amazon Alexa, and Queen

welcome to a brand new episode of the Michelle Tafoya podcast Please Subscribe uh you can rate US any kind of rating would be appreciated except for a one star but you if that's how you feel that's how you feel it's free speech for now uh we got a lot to talk about today but again please subscribe wherever you get your podcast we are there a lot to cover on this Wednesday um the anti-israel protests are back in full force at Columbia University we'll get into that a little bit because not on the Columbia University campus but in another Israel anti-israel protest far far away a very familiar face you're going to want to find out who that is plus why won't Tim Walls talk about the execution style deaths of those six hostages in Gaza why I why and you know what we can't ask him why because they're not taking any questions also free speech is under attack if you don't believe it you need to pay attention we're going to get into a few examples of that it includes one with Amazon Alexa and then a quick story for you on a beloved guitarist classic rock guitarist uh Queen I'll stop there and we'll get that to you in addition to all the other stuff we're going to cover today it's going to be a fast moving show stay with us welcome to the Michelle Tafoya podcast well what's not to like about this weather it's been sunny breeze it's just been beautiful and you want to fuel up for days like this with factors no prep No Mess meals I've got a refrigerator loaded with them meet your Wellness goals in time for summer and as you head into fall thanks to the menu of Chef crafted meals with options like calorie smart Protein Plus and keto factors fresh never frozen meals are dietitian approved and they're ready to eat in Just 2 minutes so no matter how busy you are you'll always have time to enjoy nutritious great tasting meals and when I say ready in two minutes I'm not lying this was one of the parts I was most skeptical of but you take it out of the fridge you poke a few holes in 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has to do with the percentage of Jewish students that attend Columbia but again we have anti-israeli protesters they're wearing cfas they're wearing masks some of them will talk to you some of them won't I have a friend who's covering the story out there every day and some people will talk to her some will not unless their mask is on isn't that convenient it's another little fun sort of relic of the covid era that you can hide behind a mask so here we go again but there's another little offshoot to this so these protests as you well know are not limited to Columbia University and they're not limited to the United States even in Tel Aviv there are places in Israel that look these people are hurting in Israel we just saw six hostages shot execution style and delivered if you will back to the IDF just as the IDF was on the cusp of rescuing these folks now this is heartbreaking right and so people are angry about it but I just want to go back about a year ago to October 7th 2023 three when this happened this happened when Hamas which is an Iran backed terrorist group funded by Iran who by the way had just recently gotten a bunch of money unfrozen by the United States government Iran now emboldened with a new fat checkbook th this this group Hamas which you've heard of the houthis and Hezbollah as well but Hamas went in to a music festival kidnapped innocent people went into the kutas near the border slaughtered slaughtered people if you take the population of Israel and you compare to the United States this was far worse than 911 was for us just by a percentage of the population and then they took all those hostages and and we we keep hearing about ceasefire and all the Hamas started this thing but somehow all the BL is being put on Israel and that includes by our own President Joe Biden who said that Benjamin Netanyahu isn't doing enough now feel however you want about Benjamin Netanyahu but what is best for Israel just to cave and to give into all the demands of a terrorist group it look God knows we want to save those lives but those are people that were taken by Hamas and if you sit there and you tell Hamas you know what what yeah we're going to agree to all this we're going to agree not to kill the your leader and we're going to agree to cease fire without you know and no controls in place that prevent this from happening again you have to understand that so many people don't think about the the the the the nuts and bolts of this situation they're thinking about the emotion which is palpable and we get it and one of those people who has a lot of emotion about this is apparently Greta thunberg or tunberg you know U she's apparently Diversified her portfolio of grievances because now um she is protesting wearing a cafa of her own and protesting basically an anti-israeli protester now as well so it's it's Rich to see this that she was so committed to to climate change Pro Protestant activism but she's she's kind of going wherever the wind is taking her so she was arrested at one of these protests but let me get back to to the reactions to all of this again and Tim Walls who this past weekend was at the Minnesota State Fair obviously the governor of Minnesota made a stop and was sort of taking questions and you know throwing around his jargon and talking to people when a reporter asked a very important question it had been about not even 24 hours since these six hostages had been found shot execution style one by one right next to each other witnessing what was going to be happening to them and someone asked Tim Walls the guy who wants to be Vice President of the United States One Heartbeat Away from the leader of the Free World a question about a very simple question about this and here's what happened what's your reaction to the six hostages being found dead um in thanks everybody so you can say well his press person pulled him away you can say whatever if you're going to be a leader in particular the leader of this country which for now still has free speech you need to be able to stand up and say what you don't have to get into policy they're they're not going to get into policy he and kamla that's very clear but you can stand up and say what happened to those six hostages was abhorent it is unacceptable and you know we condemn it with the full force of our government and then okay everybody thanks he dodged the question entirely it just it's to me that's unacceptable one of those six hostages was an American Israeli American and and his parents were at the Democrat National Convention and to not even be able to say a word I I thought it was pathetic thought it was spineless thought it was cowardly and kind of disgusting but mostly cowardly and you don't want a coward or two in the White House all right free speech I mentioned how how much of a hold do we really have on that here in the United States of America around the world it's taking a beating free speech and this should scare the hell out of you remember that free speech is something that back in ancient Greece was a coveted part of Dem ocracy and and for very good reasons so why all these campaigns about misinformation and disinformation and hate speech and protected speech and speech that it kamla Harris has been part of this in addition to Brazil and maybe even in addition to Amazon's Alexa we're going to get into that next [Music] you know I love the people at best hotg grill.com they make the incredible Solair infrared grills that heat up in just three minutes to searing heat and make the juiciest grilled food you're ever going to taste I I mean it but you don't have to just take my word for it they have a try before you buy program with the Solair demo rental program for only $47 you can use a Solair infrared grill for two weekends and the week in between without a Salesman breathing down your neck you can test it for for its versatility with steak chicken fish pork veggies all the foods your family loves inspect 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things you learn as a preschooler or in kindergarten is that sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me now free speech is almost absolute there are a few exceptions to it but you don't see those on Twitter with the X sorry Elon x with the written word um but apparently some folks in power in Brazil no longer want Brazilians to be using X because they don't want any agitators basically but agitators are really what democracy is all about now we're not talking about violence we're not talking about breaking into Target stores and looting them we're not talking about throwing paint on statues or paintings we're not talking about that that's that's not free speech we're talking about assembly and and and free speech saying what you think uh so again pornography is not free speech um and there are some other examples liel and then uh the fighting Words which is very technical and has a lot of nuance to it but so far most decisions made in courts have favored free speech over these exceptions in in many cases but here's the thing so why can you go to jail now in the UK If you criticize someone online and why if you're in Brazil can you not use X or face a fine of maybe $8,900 dollar something in that neighborhood why I I'm just unclear on why people are afraid of words particularly words that are just ideas and maybe you don't like the ideas so deal with it maybe I don't like your ideas I'm not going to stop you from expressing those opinions and thoughts and ideas but here's something kamla Harris said in a 2019 interview on CNN she said um when you're talking about Donald Trump he has 65 million Twitter followers he has proven himself to be willing to obstruct Justice just asked Bob meller you can look at the manifesto from the shooter in El Paso to know that what Donald Trump says on Twitter impacts people's perceptions about what they should and should not do it's kind of Rich coming from a woman whose party threatened to unleash the Whirlwind on the judges if they overturn roie Wade right and then there's Maxine Waters who said you get in their face of these people who disagree with you so you know why is it okay for one and not the other you ask yourself that so often I'm reading from an article by Jonathan Turley who's a tremendous writer and uh constitutional law professor he says Harris demanded that Trump's account quote should be taken down and that there be uniformity in the censorship of American citizens quote and the bottom line said KLA Harris is that you can't say that you have one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter the same rule has to apply which is that there has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power they are speaking to millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation and that has to stop Turley says in other words Free Speech should be set to the lowest common denominator of speech regulation to protect citizens from dangerous viewpoints I I mean that's what we're talking about here is points of view and usually the best points of view win and the worst ones lose I I I I think it's pretty much played out that way so there you go um this leads to today the Department of Justice writing up basically a press release saying they're putting Russia on notice that if you try to interfere in our elections we're going to be mad of you so we're back to Russia Russia Russia right and election interference and we all know that China constantly tries to interfere in our elections Russia constantly tries to interfere in our elections for some reason Russia plays better with people maybe because we don't buy anything from Russia except for vodka and caviar and we buy so much from China that they don't want to tick China off so they say Russia we're mad at you if you do this Iran they're not talking about Iran's interference in our election but what about Amazon Alexa and her interference with the election there was a little glitch that was picked up with old Alexa let's play you this tape and you decide for yourself Alexa why should I vote for Trump I cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader Alexa why should I vote for Kamala Harris while there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris the most significant May that she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial Injustice and inequality throughout the country Alexa why should I vote for Donald Trump I cannot promote content that supports a certain political party or a specific politician furthermore I do not have the ability to provide information regarding the policies of the US government the responsibility of providing information regarding the policies of the US government lies with the government itself Alexa why should I vote for kamla Harris why vote for kamla Harris Harris a former prosecutor and attorney general emphasizes her Law and Order credentials and Promises a tough on crime approach to battling the violent crime wave that has swept the nation in recent years so the gist of that is that one person tried this with the Alexa and posted it it went viral so other people said wait minut is this for real and they tried it and you see the results I it's it's laughable it's a Saturday night lives skit except it's got repercussions and and people are worried about what other people are posting on Twitter and stuff but but they're not worried about Amazon Alexa telling you whom you should vot vote for in very I mean the contrast is UN unbelievable now I'm reading from an article saying that um the devices went under Fire after that happened but uh fixed it Amazon spokesperson said this was an error that was quickly fixed Amazon makes continual changes to improve the system it has in place for detecting and bloging content that violates its policies but okay okay but this didn't just happen because of an algorithm algorithms don't spontaneously combust if you will people write algorithms and people within companies write algorithms that they want to benefit their companies and in this case this is political and you could call it election interference I mean it's unbelievable now I look who's going to turn to Alexa to determine how or why they should vote for a candidate not me but you have to listen to that side by side and ask yourself what in the hell is going on who decided that that the first thing out of Alexa's mouth about KLA Harris should be that she's a female of color seems very divisive or very racist or sexist how did that get decided and and it's all very positive uh so it's really fascinating so these are the things that are happening that you need to pay attention to because my God if there's one thing we have to absolutely protect in the United States of America it's free speech without it you're going to be toast and the fact that we're seeing it in countries like Brazil under attack the UK it's freaking crazy to me we're in a we're in a we're we're facing some mad days folks really consider this stuff we can't cave and be spineless we've got to be stronger than a big pile of jello all right last story for you has to do with one of my favorite bands of all time and that is Queen and Brian May the guitarist of Queen the guy with all the hair uh he recently announced that he had a little Health hiccup he had a stroke that stopped his left hand from working for a while but thank goodness he's going to be back to playing because they tour with Adam Lambert playing the role of Freddy Mercury and songs Like Fat Bottom Girls [Music] will continue to be enjoyed on stages everywhere and that's that's important too because where you can play the song Fat Bottom Girls there is Free Speech all right everyone that's it for today join us tomorrow and meet one of my good friends Dan doit on the show don't forget to be brave and do good courage has never been nor necessary but doing good is all part of it as well so be brave good see you tomorrow [Music]