[SPEAKER_00]: You lied, told a lot of lies about a cheat man Is there a cause you when they got you to believe in Thumb and finger held to the forehead and an hell show Trapped in a cover on the sales game Let's fight back in, have you talked about class in the past Cause the disaster's brought to ashes Not spank at your box It's a thousand natural shocks I'm bad with money, podcast [SPEAKER_02]: Hello and welcome to a thousand natural shocks about with money podcast.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm your host Gabe Dunn, and with me today, we have Nick Valencia journalist extraordinaire.

[SPEAKER_02]: Can you tell my audience who you are and what you do?

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for having me gave I really appreciate the invitation.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm an independent journalist but I'm a long time veteran journalist so I left CNN after 19 years and now have my own media company and I've been out in the streets doing street level journalism for the last six months but you know I've been in the trenches for years for decades at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have a long history covering immigration.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been to the border countless times and spent a long time covering family separation during the first Trump administration.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I started at CNN as a teleprompter operator back in 2006 and just worked my way up and made it to the level of course on it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now I'm on this new journey, which feels even more fulfilling in so many ways.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like really scary, but also super exciting.

[SPEAKER_02]: Did you want to be on camera when you were a teleprompter [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, there's everyone that's on camera wants to be on camera.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's like make no mistake about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, every single one of us, no one's begging anyone to be on TV except like maybe if you're Anderson Cooper or, you know, one of these like super big household names.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: is like me and like I think you know had this idea of there's a performance aspect to being a journalist and um you know I think I kind of always grew up kind of a performer you know it's so funny now I have small kids now and I'm watching the same VHS video that inspired me to kind of like you know be a performer moonwalker the old Michael Jackson moonwalker [SPEAKER_01]: like 1988 moonwalker the concert the big concert yeah yeah exactly the concert yeah I was born in 88 but we had that VHS also and so my son is watching it now and like I just I don't know it just gave me flashbacks game to like [SPEAKER_01]: you know, dressing up and going to my grandma's house and dancing around and, you know, that kind of personality has always been in me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And actually, I really wanted to be a professional athlete.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to be an ice hockey player and go to the NHL.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there's no, you know, five nine Mexicans in the NHL.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, I was like, hmm, so I was a break barriers.

[SPEAKER_02]: I went to school for journalism as well, and but I was a print reporter and I was very into being a print reporter.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like I was like, I'm no, come on.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, it was funny.

[SPEAKER_02]: There was a big rivalry between the broadcast kids and the print kids.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because the broadcast kids were like, you guys are gross.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the print kids were like, you fucking vain.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, like, [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, you fool it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Even the newspaper kids, as newspaper kid, we looked down on the magazine kids.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like we were so, yeah, we were like, we don't do magazines.

[SPEAKER_02]: We do news.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's like so crazy.

[SPEAKER_02]: This is like 2006.

[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.

[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, by the by 2009, 2010, I was graduating like print.

[SPEAKER_02]: They were like, you should probably learn Twitter because Prince Desk.

[SPEAKER_01]: literally.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it was the print journalist, you know, when I was in college, which was not that, you know, so much so much before you, the daily Trojan that the journalist at the daily Trojan, the newspaper at USC, they were the ones that I was like, oh, you know, there's the associated press.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always thought journalists from the associated press was like the real deal, you know, they were, they were kind of like the, you know, the flesh and bones.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you work for the AP, [SPEAKER_02]: And, and it was like so, oh my god, I also talk about this.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, I'm like, guys, I had to cut my clips out, photocopy them at the library for a nickel, and then put them in the envelopes with the resume, and mail that shit.

[SPEAKER_03]: My croffees, we're up here at the library.

[SPEAKER_02]: I had to mail that shit to like the Denver Post to be like maybe hire me and then they had to like mail stuff back like do you even understand I sent out probably like 50 maybe 80 [SPEAKER_01]: I was seeing all of these, a lot of my peers that were getting jobs before me, and I was like, man, like, [SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand why I'm getting looked over, but I think one of the philosophies I live by in life is that things happen for us not to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I remember being kind of like in this really dark space after graduating USC, thinking I deserved a better job than the one I had, which was none.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have anything, and then CNN popped up as an opportunity, and then here I was.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in my college group of peers, that was the coveted job and they came to me and I got it, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so it just was an affirmation that kind of showed me like it was things that are meant for me are gonna show up and that, you know, things that aren't, look, don't worry about it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I constantly, I mean, now I'm, I think I'm back to being a reporter, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: My dad always says I was always a reporter because I was always doing stuff like this, but I thought of myself as like a Hollywood person, but that's dead.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I always flipped, flopped between freelance and getting a job.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I would be so, I'd be like freelance.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I have freelance.

[SPEAKER_02]: I would, I lived in New York and I would be like, I'm freelancing all these places.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then like freelance would, I would be like, [SPEAKER_02]: This is stupid like I need a job.

[SPEAKER_02]: Then I would like get a job like I worked at shape magazine like I worked it I would like get these jobs and then I would like in three to six months be like I hate it here I'm gonna become a freelancer and I just switched like that for I don't know six or seven years [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I never had any experience doing freelance work.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was always, yeah, I mean, like I had a, it was like the longest first job in the history of jobs that I think, you know, I was at CNN for 19 years.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this is kind of like my first for you into being a freelancer, but I'm only working for myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't even see it as being a freelancer, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's, I'm doing the work for me now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, just self-employed independently.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, self-employed, exactly.

[SPEAKER_02]: So this is I mean, I have so many questions, but in terms of the freelance stuff, I mean, do you think now the coverage that you're doing and what you're doing?

[SPEAKER_02]: Do you think in this climate?

[SPEAKER_02]: Do you think you would be able to be doing that at CNN?

[SPEAKER_01]: not the way I'm doing it, you know, not the way I'm doing it, like the difference between what I was doing there and what I'm doing here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's a lot of differences, but one big difference is that these stories that we're doing now are character driven.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I may appear in the story, but like it's not, you're not going to hear my voice in it, unless it's me naturally talking to the subject that I'm interviewing.

[SPEAKER_01]: everything is really driven by the character that we're featuring.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I take it back to something that I recently did in Charlotte, like something that I mean, it took off.

[SPEAKER_01]: It went viral.

[SPEAKER_01]: I focused in on somebody who became an accidental organizer.

[SPEAKER_01]: She was somebody who lives in East Charlotte.

[SPEAKER_01]: Her community was being targeted.

[SPEAKER_01]: Her bakery shut down as a result.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we went in.

[SPEAKER_01]: All the news cameras, the big networks, they left.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you know, another independent journalist was like, Nick, do you really want to come in?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, all the cameras are leaving, all the networks are going home, and that's exactly what I want to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly when I want to be there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what we were able to capture was a story that all the networks missed because, look, they were covering other things.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to shit on everything that mainstream networks do, but we were able to tell a story that was really the heart of what was happening there and it got to the point of what was going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: outside of the bakery.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you had this bakery monolos that shut down and a fear of being targeted by ice.

[SPEAKER_01]: And part of the reason why you had this grassroots movement grow was because you had this 50-something-year-old foster mom of unaccompanied miners who were coming across the border, you know, she's fostering these children.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the bakery that she uses to give them a taste of their home.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she joked like, you shut down a fat lady's bakery.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to come out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: But it was really about her kids and all those foster kids who she's been fostering on a company minors for the last four or five years along with her husband.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it was really personal for her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she went out there and she was one of the organizers in the parking lot that was, you know, getting people together and rallying.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, it was her clips that were going viral that that really added to, I think a lot of the attention.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I slept.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, their operation was quote unquote over.

[SPEAKER_01]: They still have elements there.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're still going on and still doing stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like, they really felt proud.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was a moment where they felt, hey, look, we all unified.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it got together.

[SPEAKER_01]: We pushed out this element, maybe sooner than they wanted to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was able to profile the person that was responsible or partly responsible for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that was really cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that stuff that you're not going to be able to see and do at CNN, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's interesting.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you were there the day that the protest that 535 Alameda, which is the federal building the MDC detention center.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it was like really stark where the cameras, especially CBS, the cameras were facing towards the protesters.

[SPEAKER_02]: like geared up and the protesters were just kind of doing their thing a lot of like dancing and you know people like yelling and stuff which is their right.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah of course and so my friends were trying to get the cameras the CBS cameras to turn left to see the police lined up and they would not turn their cameras.

[SPEAKER_02]: And like it was like people were filmed.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I was like, you're on film doing this, but it doesn't matter.

[SPEAKER_02]: People just do it over they want.

[SPEAKER_02]: But a couple of my friends are on the video being like, turn your camera.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like you're facing the protesters, turn your camera because you're not showing the police like staged to get us.

[SPEAKER_02]: They would not turn their camera.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you were there for that, but like, [SPEAKER_01]: I heard about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't there for that.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, but I heard about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I wish of setting to me, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I know that the screen goes far beyond this.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, if I turn my camera, you could see I'm out my dining room table, you know, you know, you know, where I'm at.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the, that's the access that we bring you on the ground as these independent journalists mobile, my workflow is very small, the same phone that I'm talking to you on Gabe is the phone that I use when I'm filming my stories.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, to hear that the main [SPEAKER_01]: giving one perspective on that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know there was really upsetting and that was probably another affirmation for what a lot of us were starting to see internally, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: And like what we see now with a lot of these media companies is that they've been corrupted and that they have been infiltrated and that for whatever reason, or no, we know the reason, it's the powerful people they stick to each other because even in the rank and file, if there are phenomenal journalists that are truly believe or doing great work, [SPEAKER_01]: you know, even if they're doing that, they're doing with it within the margins of what their employer wants them to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're doing this, you know, and that's talking about the differences of going from independent media to, you know, from mainstream, is I feel like I've gone from working for bosses and what they want and the story that they expect me to bring back to, what is the story out here that I, you know, I didn't know I was going to go get this story about the accident organizer.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just drove to Charlotte to figure it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I launched myself, [SPEAKER_01]: Whereas, you know, if I was at a network, I'd have to convince somebody to go there was a good idea, and then I'd have a very narrow scope of a story.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if I didn't bring back that exact story, people would be pissed.

[SPEAKER_01]: The better or worse, even if I found a better story, you know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that allows me now in my capacity as my own editor.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's me, my wife, and my best friend from college.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I really believe the perspectives that we bring are ones that are stamped out in the main stream.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always felt uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always felt like an outcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: And right now, I'm becoming part of a community and an ecosystem that includes people like you, people who recognize me and see me for who I am and like me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they say, oh shit, you're good enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: And not only that, but you're a great journalist.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not what if you've done for me lately.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's we believe in you and you're in this fight with us for the long haul.

[SPEAKER_01]: At CNN, it had a place like that, and a mainstream, I think it's an unrealistic expectation on the employees to hit a home run every single time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you feel like you've got to do this phenomenal job every time, and do this, bring this great story, where sometimes, you know, it's not there, and you can't create that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, there's a lot of things that are falling short right now in traditional media that I feel the remedy is independent journalism, and that platform has become very clear to me lately.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was watching very worriedly at CBS merging or whatever with the free press, which is very wise as publication, which is a right-wing publication, even though they claim to be moderate, and then, you know, Saudi Arabia didn't end up buying Warner Bros.

but Netflix did, and that is who owns CNN.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a monopoly.

[SPEAKER_02]: Everything is coming down to like, it's going to be like [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that's really scary.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I can see, even as a reporter, when I was a reporter, when you were talking, I was smiling because it would be, I, you know, when I was naive, I was like, we don't like create the news, but we see what's happening and we curate it.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like we are, we're not like, oh, find someone who is doing this.

[SPEAKER_02]: and write about it, we would go to a place and be like, what's happening here?

[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember the pressure to be like, you know, I'm like, hey, I felt like, okay, your story about the activist, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: This is my impression of what would have happened.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's so interesting.

[SPEAKER_02]: Can you find two other people who are doing that exact same thing?

[SPEAKER_02]: And then you...

[SPEAKER_01]: Right, right, right, right, right, right, like that's not good enough.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then write an article about how this is a phenomenon.

[SPEAKER_02]: Do you know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_02]: And so instead of you're laughing because I'm so right.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're so right.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we can't just have one example.

[SPEAKER_01]: We need this to be a phenomenon.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's going to four other cities.

[SPEAKER_02]: Find other people like that.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then and then put together a whole package about, you know, how accidental activists are a thing across the country.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because we need a nationalized this.

[SPEAKER_01]: This needs to be national.

[SPEAKER_01]: It needs to be bigger than Beth Clements.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's bigger, you know, yes, exactly.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then you miss the story.

[SPEAKER_02]: You'll be like, yes.

[SPEAKER_02]: OK, so is it true that everyone is becoming an accidental activist?

[SPEAKER_02]: We don't know.

[SPEAKER_02]: We know this woman is true.

[SPEAKER_02]: But like the big push, if you were at a mainstream place, would be to like, smush a story together, like make best part of a trend, instead of just talking about her.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so that was like what we were taught to do.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, like one person, eh, three people, that's worth talking about.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think that created a situation where people read something and they go, well, everybody's talking about like, if there's like three, this is like, as a trans person, oh, there were three trans people who committed a crime.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, all trans people are criminals.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like it becomes this instead of talking about the actual thing that [SPEAKER_02]: that is happening.

[SPEAKER_02]: It becomes like this this push to make it seem like wow this is a real big thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know it's so interesting.

[SPEAKER_01]: I find is that they push us into creating these trends, which is so true.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why I'm laughing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I've seen also it be very fast and loose on the other side when you talk about anonymous sources or when they say sources say and it's plural, but it's really just one source.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's really just a source and that's something that I'm very transparent about when I for, you know, again, another example, I'm breaking news out of alligator alcatraz initially in the initial summer months when this facility was, you know, the topic de jor in the media.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I had one source, a very, very well placed source, but I had one source and I made it very clear.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't say sources, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: My language initially wanted to, you know, I mean, because that's something that we, you know, we and I think people do, they bolster it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that that is one of the things that people are looking through as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: Is that like, who are these sources?

[SPEAKER_01]: And people that's deteriorated, the brand is deteriorated.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, people are trusting the individual more.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that you were talking about earlier gave that, like, I was taught in journalism school that was wrong.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're seeing it happen as a rule of thumb.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a conglomerization of the media.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is just it it's like a handful of people that are going to own our outlets where, you know, the joke before I got on here was Netflix is not going to charge you a hundred dollars per month, you know, we're initiating new things to bring you more new fees to bring you more viewing habits or viewing options or whatever shit they're going to sell us on.

[SPEAKER_01]: and it's a conglomerization of the news.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a it's a tightening at the top of who controls the information and the remedy and the only remedy the only anecdote and I say this I guess with a little bit of pun intended is a free press.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is an ability to be able to be out there in the open and calling balls and strikes and the other thing that is I don't fucking believe in objectivity and I think one of the greatest myths of journalism.

[SPEAKER_01]: that we sell the public that we are objective.

[SPEAKER_01]: When our stories are so subjective, the story angles we take are so subjective.

[SPEAKER_01]: The audience who we market to, the salemite that we choose from the person that we interview all of that is subjective.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this idea that we're not these subjective people, I mean, that's one of the things that I'm pushing, [SPEAKER_01]: Pushing through as a barrier previously is that, look, I am taking a stand right now in my reporting.

[SPEAKER_01]: for the undocumented immigrant.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am not making any illusions about where I stand and if you don't want to stand with me fuck off, man, like, I am willing to die on this hill.

[SPEAKER_01]: Morely, I feel like we are a beacon here, like we get to be that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's something that my bosses would never be comfortable with me being, even though there's certain people that are given the runway and given the leash to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's the crazy part is that people can be out there and they could say as much as they want so long as their boss has their back and that's why you do see some certain people that are saying their journalists, but they're really, you know, full of opinion, but their boss has their back.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're never going to be fired.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then you have a reporter who wants to say something similarly, but won't ever be given the blessing to do so or to make that jump in that leap.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now the truth is, man, I don't have to worry about that stuff because I know where my moral center is, and I know who I'm speaking for.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love that quote.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna forget who said it.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's a journalism professor.

[SPEAKER_02]: The quote is, if I'm reporting on the weather, I don't have to get someone who says it's raining and someone who says it's not raining, I can open the fucking window.

[SPEAKER_01]: Go outside and check the fucking weather myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe it.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's my job to tell you what's happening.

[SPEAKER_02]: Not what both people said.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the fact is what we see on the streets of America happening now is wrong and in my eyes unlawful, masked agents that in any other country would be saying this private military is targeting ethnic minorities.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh, agents of the secret police force.

[SPEAKER_01]: or targeting an ethnic minority who racial profiling and that's not the headline that we see in America.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's Trump's deportation forces.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I am becoming more and more with evidence, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm a journalist, I'd be coming more and more, not just anecdotally clear, but the data cruelty is the point.

[SPEAKER_01]: Cruelty is the point of this administration, and that's what they're hoping to use to, you know, stem the flow they believe of what has always been a God-given right of people to seek asylum in this country and to live a life of peace.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our asylum laws invite immigrants.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no other country that has asylum laws like us.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why we have to remind people of the Statue of Liberty of these like very simple things and basic things of treating those that are less vulnerable as equals and bringing them in, not pushing them out and shutting them, and that's what I don't understand and where compassion has been lost in this country, because conservatives even they used to have it, but I don't see it anymore.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's wild to see videos of [SPEAKER_02]: HW, George HW, talking about liking immigration, and being for immigration, those videos are wild.

[SPEAKER_02]: Also, anytime someone says anything about our country being welcoming, I always think of shared clueless being like, it does not say RSVP on the statute liberty, I think about that all the time iconic.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you were covering this for a long time, immigration and the border and everything.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so what is your take on how things have changed or what are you seeing this kind of slide occurring?

[SPEAKER_02]: Walk me through your journey of seeing that stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so in the 90s it was Mexicans that were coming across for a better job opportunities and were coming across for, you know, to work in the fields or to work construction jobs.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then that started to change in the early 2000s.

[SPEAKER_01]: We started to see more and more central [SPEAKER_01]: people fleeing political persecution.

[SPEAKER_01]: And those asylum claims really started to skyrocket.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then, in more recent years, you started to see countries like Haiti really show up a lot on the radar.

[SPEAKER_01]: Cuba started coming, went out wet foot, dry foot, and then the Venezuelan migration happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that was really, you know, the last time I was on the border, which was probably a little bit over a year ago at this point, that [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's not true.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was just, I'm thinking about the border and southern Texas.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm, I got mad at the border of that much.

[SPEAKER_01]: I forget when I'm there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was just there this summer or going to the one up.

[SPEAKER_01]: But last time in this southern border, that's what I really saw a lot was this migration of Venezuelans that were fleeing the regime of of Maduro.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe the numbers from DHS when they're released.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen them be cooked before Gabe.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was part of a small group of journalists that were allowed into those first facilities of family separation of zero tolerance and seeing the kids and cages.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was part of that small group of reporters that went in and I saw, I won't say the outlet because I don't want to, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever, you know, we don't need to go down that right, but there was an outlet who was very cozy with the administration and they were given the data first and this reporter was notorious for putting out just the talking points of the administration and so when you hear now from conservatives that.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we needed at this policy now because the pendulum is swung and Biden just led in so many people and the numbers show it, I just don't believe that the numbers are accurate.

[SPEAKER_01]: Not only how they're kept, but in the way that they're kept.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're always one to favor the administration that's in power.

[SPEAKER_01]: When at the end of the day, these individuals are being used as political pawns and political capital.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so a lot has changed recently in terms of immigration, but that has not, is that these individuals, these people, are being used as political capital, whether it's the boogeyman for the conservatives or, you know, Democrats who don't do enough to insulate our community from being attacked and protecting us from situations like we're seeing right now.

[SPEAKER_02]: So what was the situation there with Muslims and with people from the Middle East?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's a good question.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, they felt a lot of persecution after 9-11 in the wake of 9-11.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had the Department of Homeland Security created.

[SPEAKER_01]: I had friends from Pakistan who were being singled out and who were being deported on suspicions of being terrorists because they couldn't describe gashes in their neck that they got at a drunken night party before and were set back at the 11th hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: I know of at least one incident in L-A-X because it happened to my friend.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was a story that I did in college in 2005 and that he was monitored.

[SPEAKER_01]: In addition to that, they kept surveillance on him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Federal surveillance to make sure that he was going to class.

[SPEAKER_01]: The idiot stopped going to class and the next thing they knew there was a knock on the door and they knew every single thing about all the individuals around, even though that they weren't on the list of the feds.

[SPEAKER_01]: but just because they were associated with this person.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the kind of surveillance that we started to see in the early 2000s.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in terms of immigration, it was a really hard time for Muslim immigrants, you know, regardless.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even people from Asian countries like Pakistan and India, you know, they were also susceptible to this very vitriolic time in America.

[SPEAKER_02]: Anyone brown.

[SPEAKER_02]: Anyone brown.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone brown man.

[SPEAKER_01]: Anyone brown.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's interesting because the argument that I get into with, I don't have a car.

[SPEAKER_02]: So let's say lift drivers.

[SPEAKER_02]: The argument that I get into with lift drivers is that.

[SPEAKER_02]: the one guy was saying will Obama deported a lot of people too.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, I don't care about Obama.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not like he hasn't been president for 10 years.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's bad as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's this element of, oh, Trump is our guy and Obama is our guy and it's sports.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the guy was like, oh, I'm glad to hear you say that.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, I know work for Obama.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I don't give a fuck.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, what are you talking about?

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just this very funny, like, misunderstanding of, like, immigration and cruelty.

[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I'm like, I don't like that either.

[SPEAKER_02]: And also, they were like, well, nobody was upset when Obama did it.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's a big thing that I get.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, have you never not known something?

[SPEAKER_02]: And then learned about it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then been like, I don't like that.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_02]: You expect me to have known everything?

[SPEAKER_02]: I learned about it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't like it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Obama deported 300,000 people per year, every year of his presidency, and it was and it ticked up every single year.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in the Latino community, they called him in Joe Biden, the deporter in chiefs.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they were the ones that were responsible for this.

[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the bids for these private prison infrastructure that we see now, through these private prisons that are, you know, getting hand over fist money were signed during the Obama administration.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.

[SPEAKER_01]: These individuals have long been used as political ponds in political capital, and at the end of the line, it is just a price tag for a rich and divisual to get richer.

[SPEAKER_02]: When covering this stuff, like, what do people not understand about getting taken just randomly and then people go, well, they came here legally and they didn't do it the right way.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, have you ever looked at paperwork?

[SPEAKER_02]: you dumb bitch.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's beyond doing it the right way.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to struggle to call these disappearances gay, but that's exactly what they are because these individuals are being disappeared for a long extended period of time where they are lost track of their loved ones don't know where they are.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are attorneys don't know where they are.

[SPEAKER_01]: sometimes the attorneys catch up with them and they're moved in the middle of the night literally quite literally and just flown around.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we've followed flight paths from facilities where they just literally loop around and come right back or land somewhere, refuel and go right back to where they originated from.

[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked to immigration attorneys who say that there have been hundreds of people who have been flown from the mainland to Gitmo and back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Who's expense?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who is benefiting?

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a long flight, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who's making that money?

[SPEAKER_01]: who is who isn't operating those flights.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I think is the most upsetting about this is that they are kidnapping.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are happening, they're warrantless.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got into it with a former ICE prosecutor, a guy who is behind some of the standing up for these agents, in court.

[SPEAKER_01]: He argued, you know, time and time again no matter how much I challenged him, that what agents were doing was not unlawful, even if it was against policy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he said it to me with a straight face.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, you know, I won't say his name, but it's like these agents don't have warrants.

[SPEAKER_01]: They aren't identifying themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we don't know who these individuals are.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are countless cases of Americans that have been caught up in this over 170 of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: who have been caught up in this and it's literally anyone who dares challenge getting the way of these agents or either detained themselves and blanketed with this term that they interfered with the federal investigation or they are literally run over like we just saw in my hometown in Highland Park in Northeast LA where again a woman because it's always the women standing on the front line.

[SPEAKER_01]: God fucking blessed women.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're always on [SPEAKER_01]: the front line, you know, this woman who was standing in between these federal agents and taking this individual and she got run over and she got here, you know, this is what is so upsetting to me about, you know, someone that can say with a straight face, well, this is just law and order and then go to church on Sunday and talk to me about morals.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is a moral question for me and it's like very clearly what is right and what is wrong and how people are being treated is wrong and so I'm standing up and saying something for that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it is it's been very interesting because it's I found it's women and gay people and that's it I had a guy I don't speak Spanish and I was out of home depot doing something and the [SPEAKER_02]: Not buying stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was in a home to people parking lot and there you go.

[SPEAKER_02]: There you go.

[SPEAKER_02]: I got to spokesmanish mostly.

[SPEAKER_02]: He came up to me and he was like, I understood he was saying like, why are you here?

[SPEAKER_02]: You're white.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I obviously couldn't articulate everything because I don't speak Spanish.

[SPEAKER_02]: And also I didn't really have an answer for that like ready.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I just said, he said, why are you here if you're white?

[SPEAKER_02]: And I just said, I'm gay.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it's like, it was not an answer, but like, I wanted, I was trying to express like, we're all marginalized people, like working too.

[SPEAKER_02]: And he kind of was like, okay, that was cool with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was like, okay, you're down.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like he was like, oh, because I was like, am I am I expressing the beauty of like, if I spoke Spanish, I'll be well, all marginalized people are part of an intersection and it's like the same like, you know, [SPEAKER_02]: I look up for you because, you know, they could come for me next and, but I don't have the capacity to say that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So actually, people, that's the other thing that people don't understand is that who is next?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're next.

[SPEAKER_03]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a next phase of this.

[SPEAKER_01]: The infrastructure of private prisons has expanded.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're building new prisons every single minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: It seems like, you know, it's today.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the undocumented tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the undesirable American.

[SPEAKER_01]: There is a plan in place.

[SPEAKER_01]: Project 2025 was not just something that was paperwork.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, this is full swing right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there are people like Trump allies in his orbit who feel like they are on the revenge path and they want to make, you know, make a point.

[SPEAKER_02]: When you're switching over to independent journalism, obviously it feels to you like a moral imperative.

[SPEAKER_02]: How do you launch that?

[SPEAKER_02]: Like how do you, because I know it's been an interesting conversation with between a lot of us where it's self-funded.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like this kind of this thing where we talk about this a lot in our group chat, none of us are getting paid.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like nobody, like we don't have, [SPEAKER_02]: And my friend was like, I admire your work ethic.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, I'm sick all the time.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't like it.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, it is interesting, because you say, like, it's all people of color and women and gay people.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's never the people who have money to spare, who decide to do all this stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: So like, how do you launch this?

[SPEAKER_02]: And how do you sustain it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, through people like you, you know, through people who are paid subscribers.

[SPEAKER_02]: So far we, you get subscribed.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's why people like you, I meant, I meant that, you know, I mean, literally we have about 880 paid subscribers and then we have people that are donating to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have thousands of people who watch.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's gotten to this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now we're very recently.

[SPEAKER_01]: I started to monetize on Facebook.

[SPEAKER_01]: Facebook to my surprise is not dead.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's actually giving money like TikTok is giving money, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're now building our platform to the point where we're able to monetize some views.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not much, but it goes towards something.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking at a stack of t-shirts because that's our new merch.

[SPEAKER_01]: It came just in time for the holidays.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're on all things like buying me a coffee, we're on, you know, stripe donations, people who just really believe in this.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I had somebody, our biggest donation so far, was somebody who sent me $3,000 and $1 on Diwali, because they believed in what we were doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, hey, you know, let me buy you a microphone, let me buy you a stream yard, so I can, you know, so I could put graphics on my show.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so it's literally people who believe in what we're doing, who see that they're not going to get the remedy is not traditional media or legacy media.

[SPEAKER_01]: The remedy is here with us and our voice and connecting with our viewers in a very personal way where it is authentic.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is real.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is who we are.

[SPEAKER_01]: And honestly, Gabe, I'm learning to be more myself because as a CNN correspondent, I wore a mask for a really, really long time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't even realize what a mask I was wearing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was working alongside people that came not only from elite families, but were, you know, in these elite neighborhoods, you know, and I always felt insecure.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always felt like I said, like an outcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now, [SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting to be every day a little bit more myself, you know, from like losing the co, you know, to putting on the t-shirt more and to like, you know, not cooking my face and makeup or like overjelling my hair, even though I got that trauma streak happen in there.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I'd plus my head, but I'm gray as well, I'm going so gray, it's really wild.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just to be more natural, it's to be more natural and more authentic and I think people are starting to connect with that and that gives me hope to be able to sustain this because it's hard.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a small business owner now, you know, this is a media company that I launched and, you know, I make, I make the appeal, if you like anything that you've heard, you know, support us, support what we're doing, donate to us and keep us going for another six months.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you're getting something.

[SPEAKER_02]: Merch is a great idea.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, yeah, I'm going to subscribe because I'm getting stuff from the subscription.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, it's not like, I mean, donate as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: But for Ellie Taco, I'm I love Ellie Taco.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm buying merch.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm buying all the merch.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that gave me the idea, because there was an independent journalist out of Puerto Rico.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember her last name, but her first name is Bianca.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she was like, I was getting all these lights, all these views, these retweets, all this stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I wasn't seeing the money until I started selling merch.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we're taking a step into that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, the other thing, you know, is right now we've got a cool behind the scenes deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just signed a terms of engagement with some, uh, something that I can't really announce.

[SPEAKER_01]: the work that I've done the last six months caught the attention of a billionaire with a heart of gold.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, and so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so on.

[UNKNOWN]: And [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that would be so cool, man.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's hilarious.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's, uh, I can't say who it is.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that the deal is not finalized yet.

[SPEAKER_01]: We signed that terms of engagement and like just like maybe I can guess.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you won't because it's like it came as a so such a surprise to us.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you offline.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, um, that is kind of given me an um, you know, is feeling like, okay, we did this and we built this platform and people took notice.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then you're like, okay, like, you're benefactor, you know, I think I pictured this like, you know, ritual lady at a room, you know, that like, you know, it's, it's somebody who literally believes in independent journalism.

[SPEAKER_01]: And sees everything that we see is happening and saying, how can we make a difference?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, hey, look, there's a platform out there that's doing something that's catching some momentum.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me go, you know, let me go play in the same sandbox as this person and see if we could build a bigger sandbox.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, they're a billionaires.

[SPEAKER_02]: They should give all their money away.

[SPEAKER_02]: My question, I have a friend who has a really good job and he's got out of million dollars now and I'm like, that's amazing.

[SPEAKER_02]: And he's like, I'm gonna work to two million.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, not to be like, I'm asking genuinely, I'm not being like an asshole, although I could have been.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I was like, at what point do you start giving some of that away?

[SPEAKER_02]: Just wanna clock that for you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Just wanna give you a little, just wanna give you a little perspective and be like at what point?

[SPEAKER_02]: Do we start donating?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think at that point that that person gets affected by it, you know, like we struggle from this disease of individualism in this country, where unless you're impacted by it directly, you don't care, which is why it's so important for you to be in the Home Depot parking lot game, like seeing that ally ship to that individual who spoke Spanish better than they spoke English, that means something.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they might not, you know, all you needed to say was, I'm gay, that they didn't hear any more, man.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're there for a reason and you're showing up for a reason and right now I think you are the anecdote for this disease and the individualism is stepping up in a time where you know what it's like to be persecuted You know what it's like to be marginalized.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why not be allies?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why not come together in the collective instead of you know [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: I see groups, especially here in the south, unfortunately, who really are not getting involved when they can.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I hope that more allies come together and see this as, as I do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And as you do, is a moral issue of our time.

[SPEAKER_02]: How has it been as an independent journalist with regard to access to people and also the cops treating you a certain way because there's this element now of independent journalists where they're like, well, everyone can just slap press on their shirt.

[SPEAKER_02]: We don't know, so we just have to shoot them.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I got shot at, you know, in my first week at this job as an independent at on the streets of LA right there where they brought the horses out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was there on the front lines that day.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got shot at on live that kind of took off this platform.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that was my first introduction into independent journalism.

[SPEAKER_01]: And at the time, I don't think I even realized that they shot less lethal at us.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was like a week later.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized then, like, usually if that scenario, and I was actually next to other network reporters, they had security.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would have a security guard in that scenario that had somebody that watched my back or extracted me a lot of times, Gabe, I felt like those folks got in the way, because I wanted to be with the people that were throwing shit anyway, you know, like...

[SPEAKER_01]: And so now, though, that's not even an option.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm out there by myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you, as a father of small children, I feel like I don't really have to prove myself, but sometimes I, that adrenaline gets going and I wanna be there in that moment.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was there for the No Kings Day.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I knew things like started to feel like, kind of, they were gonna turn left that night, that outside of MDC and we got out of there.

[SPEAKER_01]: 15 minutes later, we're looking at our phone and, you know, journalists are being targeted.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it is a fear.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that I do think about differently now, but it's also something that I think I have to recognize it's like, fuck it man, like this is what a path I chose.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I have to lean into this harder or go home and I'm not going home.

[SPEAKER_01]: And part of the risk of doing this independent media is if I say I never felt comfortable with that group I shouldn't be trying so hard to get back to that group.

[SPEAKER_01]: I should be nude with these new people and my new friends and hanging out You know, where I feel myself and if that is being an independent journalist with press scroll across and then You know, potentially shooting at us man.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's that's part of the problem of what's going on in America right now It takes that being on the other end of something like that to highlight the issue and you know [SPEAKER_02]: How has that been with access?

[SPEAKER_02]: Because he just did a video with Jimmy Gomez and who has told us a lot.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's been down to the MDC and he's he talks to us actually.

[SPEAKER_02]: So we can't hate on him.

[SPEAKER_02]: But how is it like getting access to people?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think I have more access now than I did when I was at CNN, which is kind of like [SPEAKER_01]: crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's so crazy to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to have people tell me that I was being held back and I'm like, no, you're bigger than where you are.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, no, I'm not.

[SPEAKER_01]: No one's bigger than CNN.

[SPEAKER_01]: No one's bigger than CNN.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I still, I don't believe that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not this fucking arrogant prick that I'm like, oh, yes, I will say, let me look at the facts and the data and the facts are that I picked [SPEAKER_01]: I'm shooting for the stars here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm aiming for the fences.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I a couple of weeks ago, I sent an interview request to the Pope, Pope Leo.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the Vatican, they didn't leave me on red.

[SPEAKER_01]: They got back to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like they were like, we wish you the best in your show.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was written in like English as a second language.

[SPEAKER_01]: It came from the Italian email address from the Holy Sea press office.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like it's stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like I would never have emailed the Pope or the Vatican, [SPEAKER_02]: You don't get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, God, I used to have that reminds me of co-workers.

[SPEAKER_01]: You said you don't get a date with Mr.

America unless you ask.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's like you don't get an interview with the Pope unless you ask.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I've asked for a follow-up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so who knows?

[SPEAKER_01]: Who knows?

[SPEAKER_01]: What I'm saying is for access, I've been surprised.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe not so surprised.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been, it's another affirmation.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, OK, now these Congress people, like Jimmy Gomez office, they found out about something that happened in Holland Park.

[SPEAKER_01]: I talk about that incident with a woman with struck.

[SPEAKER_01]: They found out about that incident from our social media.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So like now we are informing lawmakers.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are informing decision makers, policy makers.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is the kind of influence that any journalist wants to have is to be able to make an impact and be an active service with their story telling.

[SPEAKER_02]: I had Elizabeth Warren on this show in 2020.

[SPEAKER_02]: That was what I was talking about.

[SPEAKER_02]: That was crazy.

[SPEAKER_02]: In my hair, it was pink at the time.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we were like waiting for stuff to get set up.

[SPEAKER_02]: And she was like, I wish I could have pink hair.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, you can have pink hair.

[SPEAKER_02]: And she was like, I think I have to retire first.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then I can do pink hair.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, babe, you can do pink hair now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Also, the funniest thing was she had like a mug.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, oh, where's that mug from?

[SPEAKER_02]: And she was like, oh, it's from the Harvard robotics team or whatever.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, and she was like any time I go somewhere.

[SPEAKER_02]: I got to get the swag.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, wow.

[SPEAKER_02]: She was like, oh, they give you like, they give you mugs and sweaters and stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you go like, visit a place, she's like, I keep it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_02]: I have all the mugs, all the sweaters.

[SPEAKER_02]: All the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to send her some swag from your show.

[SPEAKER_02]: I know, I was like, wow, nerd in a loving way.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so...

[SPEAKER_02]: she just watched my Instagram story lately and I was like, hey babe, I know it was thrilled.

[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, I was like, come back on the show.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I think they just trust it more because they see you doing it.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're like, this is going to be presented to the right audience.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the audience they want to go for.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're also seeing very clearly the landscape of media changing.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're seeing the trust, dissolve, they're seeing the audience dip.

[SPEAKER_01]: And not to say that like, my audience is still growing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have millions of subscribers, not yet, but we've made a splash in six months.

[SPEAKER_01]: I doubled my platform since I left CNN.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's more than doubled, which is crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, [SPEAKER_01]: Not only do we see it, I mean, we're in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's hard to explain to people like my mom still doesn't get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: My mom sees like, you know, that I got Jimmy Gomez, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We're talking about Congressman Gomez, and that's her representative.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she's impressed by that, but she still thinks that success.

[SPEAKER_01]: is a name brand network anchor job, and that if I'm not there, like I'm fixing my IFB now, you know, from my old job here at news, that's what I've been fidgeting with all time.

[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't fit, that's another sign.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need to evolve.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need to do something else.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is my IFB doesn't fit me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my God.

[SPEAKER_01]: But like my mom doesn't get it, Gabe, and I think some people just don't get it, [SPEAKER_01]: sad at times that like I wish she got it but like it's the only way I could explain it to people is that scene in the sandlot where they're playing and like the the kids in the like nice uniforms pull up and then Benny and all his team they're arguing like the independent journalists are Benny and like all those kids in the sandlot and traditional legacy media are all those baseball players who's young kids in the shiny uniforms that end up losing because they're there for the [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's about the people.

[SPEAKER_01]: Journalism is an active service.

[SPEAKER_01]: It should be an active service.

[SPEAKER_01]: It shouldn't be all about the money.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what we're seeing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It goes back to what we started talking about at the beginning.

[SPEAKER_01]: This conglomerization, this money making, you know, clickbait, let's, let's put this rage bait out there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's, you know, just swayed the public.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's mislead the public.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's put out this narrative, whatever.

[SPEAKER_02]: Let's put out articles like millennials are killing the diamond industry.

[SPEAKER_02]: Do you see there was an article that was like there that was like you're an adult like adults don't need Christmas presence and I was like oh no like that's what we're doing now where we're saying that it's like annoying to have money like what do you it's just like I don't know but.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's also, you're choosing what stories to cover.

[SPEAKER_02]: You decide what to put time into.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's stressful because you're probably chasing ideas all the time.

[SPEAKER_02]: I remember when you were talking about being in the fray and stuff, there is something, when I was in college, even I would talk a lot about this.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was very self-righteous about being a journalist.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I would be like, there's some quote that's, I had, [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I can't remember what it's from, but I had it on my Facebook profile, which was like, the journalist is the one who goes into the place that everyone's running from.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was like, very, I was like, oh my god, get over yourself.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it's a fair characterization.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's something broken in the brain where like, I remember I was a co-op.

[SPEAKER_02]: I had a co-op at the Boston Globe because Emerson had like a thing where you could go to school [SPEAKER_02]: and I lied to my parents and said that there was a big burly photographer with me and there wasn't.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was like a 20 year old girl.

[SPEAKER_02]: But they gave me a police scanner and a car and I just drove around.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I remember I was not on the clock and I would like be in my house like maybe like half a sleep and I would hear an ambulance and I'd be like, well, I got to get up.

[SPEAKER_02]: I got to go see what's going on.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not on the clock.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not like, but like I would be like, what what what's it.

[SPEAKER_02]: What is happening.

[SPEAKER_02]: Your brain is broken.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's, look, the only reason I stepped into this independent space, it was completely by accident.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like I no longer had my job at CNN on a Monday morning, Monday afternoon, I get a short-term job with the history channel that put me out of the streets of LA at literally the time the social resistance movement was popping off and I took, I took this phone into the streets and I turned it around on myself and I got a few million views [SPEAKER_01]: Literally, the first video that I posted onto my social media after I left CNN got 4 million views.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, okay, maybe I have something to say.

[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, I just built my platform.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just built upon that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I guess this is to say that no one was handing me this opportunity.

[SPEAKER_01]: I saw it because we are those people that run towards what's going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are those people that are deeply curious and want to inform after we find out what happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: you know, it's not just going to find out.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's also turning around and informing the public.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I get to control that narrative.

[SPEAKER_01]: I get to instead of saying, oh, am I taking off the exact thing that they want to cover in this live shot with Jake Tapper or, you know, am I giving Wolf his 90 seconds, you know, because he's going to go on to this panel discussion afterwards.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just forget that I was even there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, no, I get to say a lot about a little.

[SPEAKER_01]: I get to go very in-depth on a topic and stay with it when I would be chasing my tail and off to some other general assignment breaking news story that no one cares about just because some producer wants to fill time in the morning show.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?

[SPEAKER_01]: And like, now I wake up and I'm like, okay, I want to go cover this story today or I want to go look into this story a little bit more or I want to do a video about this because this is trending right now, that's power, that is power and that's influence and we're here [SPEAKER_02]: It's so funny.

[SPEAKER_02]: We were at the congressional hearing, me and Katie, Katie, who has been on the show.

[SPEAKER_02]: We went to this congressional hearing and it's like, people are journalists are there, like, but they're filming something to air later or they're going to cut it up into clips or whatever.

[SPEAKER_02]: And Katie was like, should we go live after this?

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, we can go live now.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't give a fuck.

[SPEAKER_02]: And she was like, she was like, you just want to go live, like on Instagram at this hearing.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, what are they going to do?

[SPEAKER_02]: they'll just come up in either tell me not to or and then that's fun because they did it on live or like the I you know then people get to see the whole hearing I don't care right and then so that's what I was doing like I don't care that's journalism that's journalism that's putting us yeah well that's the thing is the worst thing they could say is no so I'm like do it well I don't yeah sure people it's a public it's a government hearing like [SPEAKER_01]: This is in the public's interest.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's a job.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know?

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, thank you so much for joining us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where can people find you and your stuff?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm at Nick Valencianews across all social media, except on X, I'm at Nick Valencianew, because news didn't fit, but it's fitting also because I'm, it's a new handle.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a new handle, it's a new handle.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a rebirth, you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: Here I am, it's like we're supposed to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm exactly where I need to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: Man, I hit my knees and I pray every single day, and I used to hear it before I left CNN, be prepared to go out on your own, and then here I am.

[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now when I hit my my knees and meditate and pray, I hear keep going.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that's what I'm gonna do.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna keep going.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like literally, you've been nothing migratious and kind, and it was so nice to meet you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Outside the MDC, you know, the summer, and yeah, thank you so much for having me on and putting this spotlight on our work.

[SPEAKER_01]: It means the world.

[SPEAKER_02]: But there, you know, met a lot of people outside, five people, I tell them either.

[SPEAKER_02]: A thousand natural shocks, a bad with money podcast, is a production of noted by sexual, produced by Melissa D.

Montz and Diamond M.

print productions, edited by Diane King, post-production sound by Coca-Laurence, and music by Zach Sherwin as sung by Sam Barbarra.

[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, love you, bye!