Rebel News Podcast - August 06, 2019


SPECIAL： Ezra Levant hits the streets of Baltimore to see if Trump was right about the city's decline


Episode Stats

Length

22 minutes

Words per Minute

180.42468

Word Count

4,053

Sentence Count

362

Misogynist Sentences

6

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Trump says Baltimore is a dangerous place and that it s rat infested. Is that true? Or is he just being racist? Is it possible to criticize Democrat-run cities like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and the squalor in some of the urban landscape without being called racist? Well, I'm from Canada, and I don't have a good grasp on these questions, but today we are going to spend some time with someone who does. Her name is Kimberly Kasik, and in the last week, she got things going viral with her own video from the streets of Baltimore.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, my Rebels. I went to Baltimore, Maryland, which has been a place much discussed by Donald
00:00:07.320 Trump and the leftist media. Is it a Democratic-run, crime-infested, high-unemployment, low-hope
00:00:16.420 hellhole, or is it a worker's paradise? Well, let's go on the ground and find out.
00:00:23.640 It was exciting to get out on the road. I hope you enjoy my report, even though the subject of
00:00:28.240 it is not enjoyable. Before I get out of the way, though, please consider becoming a premium
00:00:32.540 subscriber. You get the video version of the show, and I think that's essential here. I mean,
00:00:37.480 this will be interesting enough as a podcast, but the main thing is to see with your eyes
00:00:43.800 what West Baltimore looks like. I take a camera into abandoned homes and alleys, and you can't
00:00:51.540 see that in a podcast. Please consider becoming a premium member. It's eight bucks a month.
00:00:55.860 You can subscribe at therebel.media slash shows. You get Sheila Gunn-Reid's show and David
00:01:02.200 Menz's show, too. And, of course, you support our efforts. So that's therebel.media slash shows.
00:01:07.020 If you type in podcast as your coupon code, you get a discount, too. So there's that.
00:01:12.140 Anyhow, here's my show from Baltimore.
00:01:14.160 You're listening to a Rebel Media podcast.
00:01:17.400 Donald Trump says Baltimore is a dangerous place and that it's rat-infested. Is that true?
00:01:23.420 Or is he just being racist? This is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:29.660 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
00:01:33.400 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
00:01:37.460 The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody right
00:01:42.640 to do so.
00:01:43.340 Well, Donald Trump set the cat amongst the pigeons again. He tweeted that the city of
00:01:54.100 Baltimore, Maryland, well, at least parts of it, are rat-infested, that it is a criminal,
00:02:00.200 there's a criminal infestation, that it is dangerous. He even, at a rally, said it was
00:02:05.580 more dangerous than Afghanistan. He poked at Representative Elijah Cummings, a long-time
00:02:12.260 congressman for this district, calling him King Elijah, implying that he's always been in power,
00:02:18.100 always will be, not a very democratic Democrat. Critics of the president said it was a racist
00:02:24.720 commentary, but was it really? Is it possible to criticize Democrat-run cities like Baltimore,
00:02:32.320 Washington, D.C., Detroit, and the squalor in some of the urban landscape without being called
00:02:38.580 racist, without being a racist? Well, I'm from Canada. I don't have a good grasp on these questions,
00:02:44.280 but today we're going to spend some time with someone who does. Her name is Kimberly Klasik.
00:02:49.480 She's a Baltimore urban activist who doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk, and in the last
00:02:56.740 week, holy moly, did she get things going viral with her own video from the streets of Baltimore,
00:03:03.680 and she joins me on the street right now. Kimberly, thank you so much for letting me rope you into the
00:03:09.780 realm. I appreciate you taking your time. No problem. Thanks for having me. Well, we're in a very
00:03:14.080 interesting part of the city. Can you give me a quick recap of how you got in the middle of this?
00:03:21.860 How did it come to be that Donald Trump tweeted about your story? Yes. So we all know that President
00:03:31.000 Trump is running for re-election. So obviously this is probably a great story for him, especially with
00:03:36.520 Cummings and the border situation. But I originally came to the neighborhood to ask a question regarding a
00:03:43.100 statement that Congressman Cummings made on ABC Politics Sunday morning, and he said that his
00:03:48.340 constituents were afraid of Trump. Now, I've been in this area many times before, and I thought there's
00:03:52.820 no way his constituents are thinking about Trump. So I said, I'm not going to assume. I'm just going to
00:03:57.780 go out there myself, and I'm going to ask questions. And the two gentlemen that I came across, the first
00:04:02.900 two guys I saw, I said, you know, can I ask you what your reaction is to Congressman Cummings saying
00:04:07.520 that he's afraid of his constituents are afraid of Trump. And they laughed. They literally laughed.
00:04:12.760 And that because it wasn't even on their mind. Right. They thought that was funny. And so one of the gentlemen
00:04:19.400 offered to take me to show me something that was truly scary for him and, you know, his neighbors. So I don't
00:04:27.100 suggest that anyone know this. I let a complete stranger get in my car and we drove two blocks down to a house where he and
00:04:33.440 his wife lived. And he showed me throughout the entire alley, just piles and piles of trash. And you
00:04:39.100 could tell that a lot of it had come from illegal dumping. There's drywall, there's rolled up carpet.
00:04:44.720 And then a lot of it came from the homeless addicts that were using these abandoned homes, which was
00:04:49.200 right next door to him and other things to find shelter. So there was a lot going on. You know, there
00:04:54.600 were just kind of used paraphernalia, I guess you can say. But, you know, it did track rats and rodents.
00:05:02.780 And that is true. And that's what he told me. So I just took the story and told him I would get it
00:05:09.340 out there for him. And hopefully somebody will see it. Now, you tweeted about it. And before long,
00:05:13.860 you were invited to go on Fox News. Well, that's when I mean, Donald Trump watches Fox fairly often.
00:05:20.740 He obviously saw your clip, right? Yes, he saw it. And he actually tweeted out basically the exact
00:05:26.180 words I used. So, you know, he said it and, you know, it was accurate. I reported what I was told
00:05:32.360 from the residents. And it was an accurate statement. You know, a lot of these Democrat
00:05:37.580 cities have been Democrat for decades. And it's almost like it's a one party state.
00:05:43.760 I don't know. People accuse Donald Trump of being racist all the time. I don't believe it.
00:05:49.440 And even if it were true, and I don't believe it is, I think you have to talk about a problem if
00:05:56.120 you're going to solve it. And I think maybe King Elijah, the permanent congressman,
00:06:00.460 maybe he doesn't want scrutiny of his district that still has so many problems for so long. I
00:06:05.660 don't know. I think Donald Trump knows a little bit about how to fix up a decaying city. He did it
00:06:11.440 in New York. He's a developer. How do you think local folks in this in these neighborhoods would
00:06:18.100 react to a white Republican president saying, we got to fix it? That to me sounds like the opposite of
00:06:24.540 racism. Yeah, I mean, the whole racism part is a non story here. I mean, you talk to the residents,
00:06:30.460 they don't care if you're black, white, Democrat, Republican, they just want you to move the trash.
00:06:34.620 That's just sort of CNN's angle. That's Brian Seltzer's. I mean, they want to call Trump racist
00:06:39.080 whenever. But but the folks on the street here, they have real problems that have nothing to do
00:06:42.860 with party stripe. Oh, yes. And these problems have been going on for decades, long before Trump came
00:06:47.320 into the picture. So. All right. Well, you've been through these streets, you know, the people on
00:06:52.500 them, you've arranged for us to meet a local resident, Maurice. Give us a bit of a tour here. Let's go meet
00:06:56.860 him. All right. Well, Maurice, it's nice to meet you. And do you live here on Arlington?
00:07:14.240 Yes, sir. Can you take us around the neighborhood a little bit and tell us what it's like?
00:07:17.560 Do you want to start? Well, we can start right in this alley. This is like a dumping ground
00:07:27.560 in a way because they kind of like dump stuff in all the alleys around here. So this is one
00:07:34.320 part. If you go back there with me. Sure. So there's just no proper garbage pickup is what
00:07:42.980 you're saying. No. And then this is the outcome of it is right here. This looks like it's been
00:07:48.420 here a very long time. Look over here. This is the outcome of this. Whoa. That's is that
00:07:54.260 some does someone live in there or is that? Well, that's a bando right there. But people
00:07:59.660 live in that abandoned building right there. So there are people living here, but they're
00:08:03.680 just sort of squatting kind of thing. Right. Exactly. So who would who would normally be in
00:08:08.860 charges? I guess the the folks who would own it. But does anyone own it? Does anyone care
00:08:14.100 about it? To me, nobody cares about it because it was worse than this. And we, you know, we
00:08:18.920 got our gloves together and stuff and we moved it out, you know, out the alleyway because this
00:08:23.280 whole alley, you couldn't even walk down. I bet that that looks like it would be a home
00:08:27.560 for rodents. Yeah. And pill bottles. I mean, who knows, maybe even some syringes at Kapoki
00:08:36.840 or something. Oh, I know it's definitely that, especially in the bandos over there. That's
00:08:41.740 where the homeless people live at. So it's all kind of stuff going on.
00:08:45.620 Now, how long this looks like it's been here? I'd even say years. Oh, I know definitely been
00:08:51.580 here for years because we've been here for over five years. And this is, you know, it was
00:08:56.560 worse than this one time. But it seems like that. I don't know what they're doing with
00:09:01.360 the trash, but like whatever we set out that way, they take sometimes just the regular trash
00:09:07.520 people. But the bulk stuff like this, they don't take. Now, how common is this? This is
00:09:12.200 just right behind your house. Is this common in parts of Baltimore? Oh, this is all over
00:09:17.100 the city. This is everywhere. I mean, this ain't just here. It's not good for kids to
00:09:21.800 play in. I mean, kids would stay away from here. They'd get cut and bit and whatever.
00:09:27.380 Well, you see the bugs and stuff. Yeah. This is real, right? So you and the neighbors cleared
00:09:33.180 this alley, but the city won't come and take the trash? No. And we had some other help
00:09:38.120 outside of the city. And the lady, Ms. Kimberly, she's helping. But they still ain't did it
00:09:43.340 yet. And that's been over a week now. They ain't did nothing yet. So what's down the alley
00:09:47.920 down there? Is that a little park or something or just another lot? Just another lot down
00:09:52.100 that way. So how many of these houses are abandoned or empty? In the city or this west?
00:09:57.080 What's in this neighborhood? Like what do you say about? This neighborhood here, it's more
00:10:00.880 abandoned than it is people that live here. Oh, really? I definitely know that. It's
00:10:06.640 more abandoned houses here than people that live here. Hey, you got to be careful when
00:10:12.120 you come through here. If you want me to go first, I will. But ain't nobody here. Hello?
00:10:19.100 So it looks like someone was sleeping there. Huh? I don't have a light. Oh, man. I don't
00:10:27.700 know. That's nobody. It's not a body in there. Right. You know, I guess this is what all these
00:10:36.140 abandoned look like in here. And so obviously there's been human activity here. People sleeping
00:10:41.560 here. People eating here. I see some plates. This is not. You live here. You'd be in physical
00:10:47.020 danger. Exactly. This is crazy. This is not healthy. This would be condemned. Has this place
00:10:53.820 been condemned? No, boards up. So obviously they didn't condemn this one. But most of
00:10:58.820 the ones that's condemned are boarded up. The city boarded them up. I see some boards
00:11:03.420 there. But that's just in the front part. Now, I don't know if the homeless people took
00:11:07.060 them down. I don't know. But they had to have somewhere to stay. And obviously the electricity
00:11:12.720 is not working. So, I mean, maybe it's better than sleeping in the rain, but not much better.
00:11:18.820 Exactly. That's what I mean. Yeah, no, not much better. I mean, if it was snowing, maybe
00:11:22.820 I would come in here. But otherwise, I'd probably take my chances on the street. Right. There's
00:11:27.820 bones and stuff. You know, there's brodins and stuff. Yeah. There's... I did look like a
00:11:33.820 person at first. I know. But then, like you said, we would smell it. Oh, yeah. Right?
00:11:37.820 Some of these places where people are obviously living, you know, they take care of their place.
00:11:42.820 They got pride of their property. But I guess what you're saying is a lot of these places
00:11:46.820 are just abandoned, so no one cares about it. Exactly. Correct. The people that live here
00:11:50.820 have pride. The people that come and dump here are the problem. Right. There's a lot of people
00:11:56.820 that just come and dump trash over here on this side. Because they see that it looks like trash.
00:12:01.820 You can see the trees growing in. I mean... Whoa! I did see a rat. I did see a rat. It
00:12:09.820 scurried when I walked up there. Holy moly. I don't know.
00:12:18.820 It's not all despair. Maurice took us to a house where someone has set up sort of a personal
00:12:23.820 food bank. She gives away... she has... every Saturday, she gives away food and clothes for
00:12:29.820 anybody who needs food and clothes right here on Arlington Street. This lady here is awesome.
00:12:35.820 She gives you... she'll help you do anything you need to do. She has a pantry thing she has
00:12:39.820 out there. Every day she fills it up with cans and stuff if you need food or whatever.
00:12:44.820 And that's just her own private project. Right. She's doing that out of, you know,
00:12:48.820 just what she wants to do to help people. We were only a few blocks away, but a world away,
00:12:54.820 from Representative Cummings' personal home. And we had just learned that his house had actually
00:13:00.820 been robbed at the very time he was saying his city was so safe. So we decided to drive by there
00:13:06.820 just to see if we was home. And we encountered other journalists waiting. And they were actually
00:13:12.820 waiting for Kimberly too. I just really wanted to come and film what is going on in West Baltimore
00:13:18.820 and hopefully give the people here a voice. Well, the first time that we realized that you
00:13:24.820 did give people a voice, it really took off. Are you taking credit for... it may not be a
00:13:30.820 positive light, but at least people are talking about fixing things? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't take credit
00:13:35.820 for it. Obviously, President Trump is the one that got the ball rolling. When I did the videos,
00:13:40.820 I posted them on my Twitter, and somebody from the Daily Wire saw them. And so they started
00:13:46.820 retweeting them. And then that's how Fox News saw them. So Fox News called me Friday afternoon
00:13:52.820 and asked me to come in and kind of explain what I was doing or what was going on. So I went in and
00:13:57.820 did that. And then I guess Trump was watching. And even though he tweeted it like an hour later,
00:14:03.820 so I'm guessing he even saw the replay because they were replaying it. So then he tweeted about
00:14:09.820 it and all hell broke loose. Do you have any regrets about how everything is blown up? Or do
00:14:16.820 you think all of it is good to focus a spotlight on the city? I have no regrets. None. Because I think
00:14:25.820 if it didn't blow up this way, no one would be doing anything about it. Like just now I was over at
00:14:31.820 North Arlington where I was originally. There are grass cutters there. They said dump trucks are on their
00:14:36.820 way. There's actually people volunteering, private contractors coming to get things and taking out
00:14:42.820 large debris. So, you know, things are now happening and moving and hopefully they'll end up with less
00:14:49.820 trash. I was just over there 20 minutes ago. We almost stepped on a rat. So, you know, this situation is real.
00:14:56.820 And no matter how any of the media wants to spin it and say, oh, well, it's not his entire district. Sure,
00:15:02.820 it's not his entire district. But if you tell people in West Baltimore in that area where I was that his district
00:15:08.820 is so beautiful and there's lots of rich people, they would probably look at you like you have two heads because
00:15:13.820 that's not what they see every day. Do you think the president needs to stop talking about it? I mean, you know, last night he made the
00:15:22.820 comment at his rally about the crime rate and talking about comparing it to Afghanistan.
00:15:28.820 And every day since since Saturday, there's either been a tweet or some sort of comment that the people of Baltimore
00:15:34.820 are living in hell. I mean, do you think all of that is helpful? Do you think, you know, it's going to die down?
00:15:40.820 Should it die down? Should it die down? I mean, he's running for reelection. What would you do?
00:15:44.820 You know, I mean, he's he's he wants to win again. Of course, he's going to use this to his advantage.
00:15:49.820 And he just had this, you know, spat with Congressman Cummings talking about the border.
00:15:54.820 And so it's like, of course, he's going to use this to his advantage. You know, is it is it helpful with the rhetoric
00:15:59.820 and how people are taking it emotionally? No, but I don't look to my president for a kumbaya moment.
00:16:07.820 I looked for him to lead. And if this is getting results, then so be it.
00:16:11.820 And just a last question. What brought you to here today to like his his block?
00:16:17.820 I mean, did you intend to come to the Congressman's home? No, I have a friend here from Canada.
00:16:23.820 And he's actually just kind of putting the whole story together. This is international news now.
00:16:28.820 And so, you know, I took him on a tour and showed him around where I was and all the trash and everything.
00:16:34.820 And so I guess the hopes were to knock on Cummings door and ask him if he would like to also take a tour.
00:16:39.820 Because like I said, those residents haven't seen him in years.
00:16:47.820 I'm going to take a tour.
00:16:54.820 See how the doorbell here?
00:17:02.820 Looks like the lights on.
00:17:10.820 There's definitely a light on.
00:17:17.820 When he's ready to talk, we can talk, I guess.
00:17:20.820 It's all good.
00:17:22.820 What would you have asked him if he had come to the door?
00:17:24.820 If he wants to take a tour of the streets that I've been on, because we can go today.
00:17:29.820 We can go now.
00:17:30.820 What do you think of the fact that his house itself was robbed after he was pushing back against the president for calling the neighborhood dangerous?
00:17:39.820 Well, that is unfortunate.
00:17:40.820 I don't want anyone to be robbed or hurt in any way.
00:17:43.820 So hopefully it wasn't anything personal.
00:17:46.820 You know, hopefully not that I want anyone to be robbed, but hopefully it was random and it wasn't like a target to him because I mean, I don't want that.
00:17:54.820 So.
00:17:55.820 Earlier today, we heard residents on Arlington say they hadn't seen Representative Cummings in a very long time, if ever.
00:18:02.820 Do you think he should take you up on your invitation to go visit or do you think he would?
00:18:07.820 I mean, he might.
00:18:08.820 You know, I've never heard anyone say that he was, you know, a bad guy or not willing to listen.
00:18:14.820 So maybe he would come and take a tour.
00:18:17.820 I would love to give him a tour.
00:18:20.820 Do you want to try ringing those doorbells?
00:18:21.820 I think those are doorbells, actually.
00:18:23.820 How do you know?
00:18:24.820 Where?
00:18:25.820 Like this?
00:18:26.820 I think so.
00:18:27.820 It's a camera.
00:18:28.820 Maybe he'll see.
00:18:29.820 It's me.
00:18:30.820 Yeah.
00:18:31.820 Well, I can always reach out to him, I guess, another way.
00:18:49.820 I'm not going to bother him after being robbed, but it's fine.
00:18:54.820 Well, here we are after a big day in West Baltimore.
00:19:09.820 It was an interesting day.
00:19:10.820 I appreciate the tour.
00:19:12.820 Thanks for showing me around.
00:19:15.820 It was interesting that we bumped into some journalists finally covering the story.
00:19:19.820 Yeah, definitely.
00:19:20.820 That was nice because I haven't really spoke to anyone about it.
00:19:23.820 I wanted it to be more about West Baltimore and not about me and the story breaking.
00:19:28.820 But it was good to be able to tell my side of the story without all the spin to it.
00:19:32.820 Yeah.
00:19:33.820 You and I talked a little bit earlier about Brian Stelter of CNN.
00:19:37.820 It really bugged me that he was telling you what you see in the heart of your community isn't true.
00:19:44.820 It's fake news.
00:19:45.820 He couldn't even get the pronunciation of your name right.
00:19:47.820 He couldn't even get facts right.
00:19:49.820 Then Fox brought in a guest named Kimberly Klackick, who went to impoverished parts of West Baltimore and made videos of trashed lots and ruined row homes.
00:20:00.820 Fox called her a Republican strategist.
00:20:02.820 They've called her that for more than a year now.
00:20:04.820 But there is no evidence that she's ever been employed by a campaign.
00:20:08.820 She did run for a local county GOP position and lost last year.
00:20:11.820 So they call her a Republican strategist, maybe because she wrote right wing blog posts for this website for a while.
00:20:17.820 Then she started getting booked on TV again and again, again as a so-called strategist on The Hill and on Fox and other shows.
00:20:23.820 Her LinkedIn profile pointedly says she's a commentator, quote, not under contract, which means she's going on Fox for free.
00:20:30.820 Earlier this month, she decided to take on Cummings by making web videos about Baltimore's rundown neighborhoods.
00:20:36.820 But I tell you all this to explain here is where the president is getting his information.
00:20:40.820 Klackick was booked on Fox again on Saturday.
00:20:43.820 The president was watching.
00:20:44.820 And then an hour later, he tweeted.
00:20:46.820 Why do you think guys like him don't come here and see with their own eyes what's going on on the ground?
00:20:52.820 Well, you know, it's very easy to sit in the comfort of your newsroom and kind of just make your own opinion, your assumptions.
00:20:58.820 But, you know, that's what I did.
00:21:00.820 I took my camera out here and I tried to talk to people that actually live here and get the real story.
00:21:05.820 So if Brian Settler wants the real story, he should do a little bit of journalism and actually come to the neighborhood.
00:21:12.820 Well, listen, I'm grateful to you for showing us around today, for introducing us to Maurice, an interesting character who's got a big heart, completely nonpartisan.
00:21:20.820 He wouldn't even really answer my questions about politics.
00:21:23.820 He doesn't care about politics.
00:21:24.820 He cares about his block.
00:21:26.820 And he cares so much, someone's got to help him.
00:21:29.820 I'm glad you are.
00:21:31.820 Well, listen, I hope we can keep in touch.
00:21:33.820 I think you're very courageous, not just taking on critics like Brian Seltzer, but even some of the local media were a little bit prickly.
00:21:40.820 So tell our viewers, if they want to follow what you're doing or even chip into your nonprofit, how can they attract you?
00:21:46.820 Where do you have a website or do you have something people can follow you at?
00:21:49.820 Yeah. So my Twitter handle is Kim K Baltimore.
00:21:52.820 On Facebook, it's Kimberly Klasik, K-L-A-C-I-K.
00:21:56.820 And then Potential Me is the name of the nonprofit, potential-me.com.
00:22:01.820 You'll see a lot of the work, a lot of our makeovers and a lot of those that have gotten the job.
00:22:05.820 Right on. Well, congratulations to you.
00:22:07.820 And thanks for showing us such hospitality.
00:22:09.820 And I wish you and Baltimore all the best.
00:22:11.820 Thank you.
00:22:12.820 All right.
00:22:13.820 Well, that's it for the show today from the road in Baltimore, Maryland.
00:22:17.820 Until next time, on behalf of all of us at The Rebel, whether it's in Canada or the United States, good night and keep fighting for freedom.
00:22:26.820 Thank you for fighting for freedom.