PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 9th, 2025: Who’s Funding The Unrest In L.A.? & Greta’s Gaza Voyage End
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It's Monday, the 9th of June. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.

We'll start things off with the latest unrest in Los Angeles and the deep pockets that are funding the chaos. These events typically have people and organizations and sacks of money somewhere behind the curtain. We'll peek behind that curtain to see who might be pulling the strings. Later in the show, it's the end of the road for Greta Thunberg's latest attempt at performative art.

Israeli forces boarded the activist cruise ship, handed out food and water, took them to Israel, and processed everyone for deportation back to the countries that they came from, assuming that those countries want them back. But before heading home, the activists were to be shown a documentary about the Hamas atrocities of October 7th that kicked off this latest conflict.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Sunday marked the third straight day of unrest in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. At least 2,000 anti-ICE protesters shut down the 101 freeway in downtown LA, bringing traffic to a standstill for over an hour.

Eh, nobody noticed because traffic's always at a standstill. The California Highway Patrol responded in riot gear and eventually pushed the crowd off the freeway via an exit ramp, which I guess is better than via an overpass. Elsewhere, things turned destructive. Rioters vandalized driverless Waymo taxis, smashing windows, tagging them with graffiti, and setting at least five on fire.

The protests stretched into the night. Palestinian and Mexican flags were seen throughout the crowd because while activists never miss an opportunity to wave the Palestinian flag, signs denouncing immigration and customs enforcement were everywhere. Now, the LAPD says rioters began launching glass bottles and fireworks and concrete ripped from bollard posts at officers. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell admitted his department was, quote, overwhelmed.

and said commercial-grade fireworks were aimed at his officers. By night's end, at least 27 people had been arrested. Now, here at the PDB, we're not just interested in what's happening on the surface, we're also very interested in what's fueling it. Or, as California's grammar-challenged Governor Gavin Newsom put it in a social media post, what's, quote, flaming the fire. Hmm.

Because while this may look like an organic outpouring of rage, the truth is, man, there's real money, millions of dollars, being pumped into organizing these events. And millions of dollars will buy you quite the show, since each gormless protester really doesn't cost you much.

Two organizations in particular are casting long shadows over the unrest in LA. The first is a local nonprofit called CHIRLA, that's an acronym, of course everybody loves an acronym, that stands for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Well, who can complain about that? This group staged a rally just last week to protest ICE operations targeting illegal migrants, including those convicted of violent crimes. But here's where things get interesting. The

According to financial records revealed by watchdog Data Republican, Churla received nearly $34 million in government grants in the fiscal year ending June 2023, and most of that money came from the state of California. Churla claims that money goes toward legal services, deportation defense, DACA applications, citizenship filings, even services for undocumented students.

But one detail is raising eyebrows. Chirla also received nearly $450,000 in federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security. That was between 2021 and 2024. That funding was for so-called, quote, citizenship education and training, meaning U.S. taxpayers were literally funding a group now protesting against federal immigration and enforcement.

This year, under the Trump administration, DHS cut ties and canceled all future payments to the group, clawing back over $100,000 that hadn't yet to be paid out.

The second group worth watching is even more, well, ideologically extreme, and that's the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Oh, and they have an acronym, too. That's PSL. Now, this Marxist group helped organize last week's L.A. protests and, as previously, been involved in radical anti-Israel demonstrations, including on the campus of Columbia University.

PSL has also been linked to Elias Rodriguez. He's the Chicago man charged with murdering two Israeli embassy staffers outside an American Jewish committee event in Washington, D.C., although PSL claimed after the attack that they didn't really have much contact with the shooter. The funding for this group is connected to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, through a man named Neville Singham. He's a wealthy socialist and former tech entrepreneur.

Singham sold his company ThoughtWorks for $785 million in 2017 and has since used that fortune to fund far-left movements around the globe.

His money flows to a network of non-profits and activist groups, including Code Pink, which, oh, look at that, is run by his wife, Jodi Evans. That must be a fun bunch to hang out with. And according to a 2024 report by the Network Contagion Research Institute, that's an American organization which identifies the spread of ideologically motivated threats and disinformation, Singham's financial support has links to the Chinese Communist Party, with funding tied to CCP-aligned propaganda.

In fact, a major New York Times investigation last year exposed how Singham's network steered millions into organizations that openly praised Beijing's policies from South Africa to New Delhi. So, when you see riots in Los Angeles, just remember, those protesting and setting fires and attacking law enforcement, well, they may not have a clue about who's paying the bills, but they're being quietly bankrolled by taxpayers and foreign interests and socialist billionaires.

Coming up next, Israeli forces intercept Greta Thunberg's boat. Now she and her companions will be shown footage of the October 7th attacks before getting plane tickets home. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. The Gaza-bound Flotilla saga ended late Sunday just as predicted, with the Israeli Navy intercepting the Madeline, that's the name of their ship, and detaining Greta Thunberg and other activists before they got anywhere near Gaza's coast. Israeli naval forces boarded the protest ship after it ignored repeated warnings to reroute. Among those detained was Thunberg, along with some Game of Thrones actor named Liam Cunningham,

a member of the European Parliament, and other activists, part of what Israeli officials are calling a pro-Hamas publicity stunt dressed up as a humanitarian aid mission. As we reported on today's PDB, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a blood warning stating, quote, to the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas propagandists, I will say this clearly, you should turn back because you will not make it to Gaza, end quote. And they didn't.

And now that the crew is in Israeli custody, Katz says they'll be shown raw footage of the 7th October Hamas terror massacres. He reiterated Israel's broader policy, saying, "We will act decisively against any attempt to break the blockade or support terrorist organizations, whether by sea, air, or land." Now, this isn't Thunberg's first run-in with Israel. She's already been banned from entering the country due to her past statements supporting Hamas-aligned narratives about the war.

And as our regular listeners know, we have been tracking this story since the Madeline, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, that of course has the acronym FFC, set sail for romance and adventure from southern Italy on the 1st of June. It carried 12 activists, a small amount of aid, and vast quantities of self-righteous ignorance. The FFC said the goal was to quote, raise awareness of what it calls quote, genocide in Gaza.

But Israeli officials argue that if delivering aid were truly the goal, the group would have accepted the Navy's offer to reroute to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where the cargo could be inspected and legally transferred to Gaza. In fact, the IDF even released footage of its Navy hailing the Madeline by loudspeaker and offering just that. Instead,

The FFC cried foul, because that makes for better video. The group claimed the ship was, quote, unlawfully boarded, that its, quote, life-saving cargo was confiscated, and accused Israel of using electronic jamming to disable the vessel's navigation, an allegation that remains unverified. Several of the activists during all that kept themselves busy recording breathless selfie videos declaring that they were being kidnapped and were in danger.

Sunday's interception marks the latest chapter in a 15-year series of flotilla campaigns aimed at breaching Israel's naval blockade. It's a blockade that the UN deemed legal back in 2011. While the Madeline didn't fare any better than its predecessors, this was the first time that Israel stopped a vessel carrying such recognizable passengers, almost D-list celebrities.

Just last month, another FFC vessel was reportedly struck by drones off the coast of Malta. It's an attack that the coalition blamed on Israel. All 30 passengers were unharmed, and Israel declined to comment.

And for the long-time flotilla watchers out there, Sunday's events recalled the infamous 2010 Mavi Marmara raid. Now, that was where Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish ship, leading to the deaths of nine activists and injuries to dozens more. The IDF insists its troops back then acted in self-defense after being violently attacked on board. Whether this latest episode deters future maritime stunts remains to be seen. And by that, I mean, well, this won't be the last stunt.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Monday, the 9th of June. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. Of course, to listen to the show ad-free, you can definitely do that, and you can do it simply just by becoming a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.