WEBVTT - Crisis Arms Dealers 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.520 Good morning, Peepsen, and welcome to Look f Daily with 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.480 me your girl, Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:25.280 So earlier this week, Hunter Biden was found guilty of 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.000 three felony counts as it pertains to the possession of 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:36.120 a gun when he was still apparently using or had 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.279 been busted for using drugs. Blah blah, blah blah. And 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.000 you know, the Right has been in an uproar over 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.239 Hunter Biden for the last I don't even know how 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.960 many years. And what pisses me off about this is 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:56.240 that Hunter Biden is like a lot of people in 0:00:56.280 --> 0:01:00.240 the United States that have been addicted to drugs that 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.920 struggle with addiction. I mean, the opioid crisis in and 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.600 of itself has millions of people in this country in 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:14.200 a chokehold, right. You know, the pharmaceutical companies that started 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.320 the crisis knowing that their drugs were addictive, but you know, 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.280 Republicans allowed them to get off and not be sued 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.240 for the deaths and the addiction of so many. That 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.720 is all on a side. What frustrates me is that 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:37.080 the Democrats, when given blatant criminality, do not use their 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:42.600 power and position as folks with the ability to create 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:48.400 committee hearings, to draw in headlines, to bring America's attention 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:57.440 to those that are criminals, like the Kushner's. So Jared 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.720 and Ivanka right with no fucking expence, became advisors to 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.840 the president of the United States. You all know that 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.919 if Hillary Clinton had been president, Chelsea would have been 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.799 probably in a different country, right, nothing to do at 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:18.360 all with her mother's administration. We also know that no 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:24.160 other Democrat, no other person, frankly, had their children involved 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:30.040 in their administrations whatsoever, because of the blurred lines, because 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.720 of nepotism, because of a whole host of things that 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:37.480 don't apply to the Trumps. So following now, which I 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.200 think is ill timing in and of itself, but who 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.320 gives a fuck about ill timing and the way things 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.920 are perceived these days, when you can apparently do whatever 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:47.800 the fuck you want so long as you're white and 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.960 rich and male, which has always been the case in America, 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.079 But if your name is Trump or attached to Trump, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:56.560 you can absolutely do whatever the fuck you want. So now, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:03.600 two years following or three years really following the end 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:08.800 of the Trump administration, if you all remember Jared Kushner, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.880 who again no experience, couldn't get security clearance, but that 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.000 was waved away by Donald Trump somehow became his Foreign 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:23.120 Affairs advisor. Don't really know how that happened or why, 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.560 but what we do know is that when Jared Kushner 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.720 walked away from the Trump administration, he didn't walk away 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:35.080 empty handed. He received two billion dollars from Mohammed bin Salam, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:40.360 the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. During his time as 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:46.240 the Foreign Affairs Advisor, he told his father in law, 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:51.200 Donald Trump to embrace Saudi Arabia as an ally right, 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.040 which should raise concerns for everyone. I mean, I don't 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.280 have to remind you, and maybe I do about Jamal Koshogi, 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:04.000 the Report Order, the writer for the Washington Post who 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:10.920 was murdered and dismembered by MBS, and Trump didn't care, right, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.200 He's like, oh, he's not an American, he was NBS 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.000 is a murderer. And that's just like one person that 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.279 we know about, right. We know that he abuses his 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.320 own people all of these things and does dirt, but nonetheless, 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.719 because of his deep pockets, the Trumps love that and 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.520 for whatever it was that he did while he was 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:37.159 advisor to Donald Trump. He became a very wealthy man 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:42.080 off of that. So now Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:47.440 Democrat from Oregon, has asked Kushner's firm, Affinity Partners, for 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.640 details about its investors on Wednesday, including the two billion 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:57.040 dollars it received from Saudi Arabian Government Public Investment Fund 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.960 in twenty twenty one. This is according to the Huffington Post, 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:05.120 and this is what is said by Chairman Widen quote. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.240 Mister Kushner's limited track record as an investor, including his 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.880 non existent experience in private equity or hedge funds, raised 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:18.040 questions regarding the investment strategy behind the seating investments and 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:23.280 lucrative compensation that Affinity received from the Saudi PIF and 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:29.480 other sovereign wealth funds. This panel screens investments for the 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:34.359 Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund warned right warned against investing with 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:39.080 Kushner given his inexperience in finance, but the full board, 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:44.520 led by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam, overruled right. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.160 So even his own even MBS's own people said, don't 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.640 invest with dude because he doesn't have a good track record. 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.000 We don't really know what he's up to, and MBS said, nah, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.480 I got it. It's fine. Right. Goes on to say, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.719 Kushner advised Trump on foreign affairs, guided his administration to 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.840 embrace Saudi Arabia as an ally, which I mentioned, and 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:10.680 remained in close contact even after NBS was implicated in 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:15.719 the dismembering of American journalist Jamal Kushogi. This comes from 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.120 widen quote. The Saudi PIF's decision to invest two billion 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.960 dollars in Infinity so soon after Kushner's departure from the 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.600 Trump White House raises concerns that the investment was a 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:32.520 reward for official actions Kushner took to benefit the Saudi government, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:37.280 including preventing accountability for the Saudi government ordering the brutal 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:43.839 murder of journalists and American citizen Jamal Kushogi. Folks, this 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:50.279 should have happened in twenty twenty one. This investigation should 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:55.039 have been opened, not only by the Senate, right in 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.240 terms of hearings, after hearings of who benefited from the 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:05.720 Trump administration, who benefited monetarily right namely his fucking kids, 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.560 And it should have been wall to wall coverage there 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:13.640 should have been an investigation opened by the Department of 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.640 Justice in twenty twenty one. None of these things happened 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:24.000 because of politics, and this is where Democrats continue to 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:29.240 fucking fail all the time. Regardless of the actions that 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.480 Democrats were going to take, Republicans were going to say 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.200 that it's political, this is a witch hunt, this is retribution, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.800 blah blah blah blah blah. But the fact is that 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:47.120 multiple crimes were staring the Senate and the Department of 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.560 Justice in the face. When Donald Trump got on that 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:55.880 helicopter and exited from the White House, Merrick Garland walked 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.720 into the DOJ with the Muelll Report sitting on his 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.760 fucking desk. Ten ways in which that motherfucker had obstructed justice. 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.360 But Merrick Garland decided to look the other way, not 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.480 because it was for the best interests of the American people, 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.040 but because it was about preserving an institution and the 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:19.440 perception of some type of fucking bipartisanship. If you break 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.960 the law, you should be investigated, you should be tried. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.560 And so it was politics that stood in the way 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:33.120 of Democrats getting to work years before we would get 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:37.920 to this moment. Five months before fucking an election. Those 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.280 cases that had been put on ice right most recently 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:47.600 would have been moving ahead had they had the two 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:53.520 year fucking lead that they should have. It is politics 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.839 that has us in this precarious moment about to lose 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:03.280 our democracy, that rest squarely on the shoulders of timid 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.600 and tepid fucking Democrats who refuse to do their job 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.720 so that they can pretend like they are somehow the 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:15.320 adults in the room absolute bullshit. But I will keep 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:20.320 you abreast of where these hearings go. Coming up next 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.480 my conversation with our in house doctor who is back 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:29.920 with us, doctor Jonathan Metzel. We talk about gun ownership 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:35.200 in the LGBTQ community and the ways in which these 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:41.839 arms dealers pray upon fear and racism and bias. That 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:48.840 conversation is coming up next. It's been a couple of weeks, 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.920 but we are welcoming back to the show our in 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.840 house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Jonathan, it's so good to 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.360 see you and have you back. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.079 Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you. 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:06.240 It is pride here on WOKF, so happy pride, and 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.599 there are so many issues obviously that affect the LGBTQ 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.440 plus community, and one that I don't think that we 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:20.319 talk about enough is the gun issue inside of this 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.360 community and what happens when you have marginalized communities that 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:29.360 are targeted, which we have seen throughout you know, the decades, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:34.400 We've seen horrific mass shootings, We've seen crimes against black 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.520 trans women in particular, that every time there is an 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.600 instance of violence against a particular community, there seems to 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:46.960 be an opening that gun manufacturers that the NRA see 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:51.360 to go after a new audience and kind of I 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.000 don't know, I guess capitalize on their fear. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:55.560 Right. 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.120 What have you seen in and around you know, the 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:04.840 lgbtqu U plus community and guns and how this community 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:09.000 has handled the issue of gun ownership. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.880 I have a couple of colleagues at Vanderbilt who actually 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.679 work on this issue, and I'm going to reach out 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:18.440 to them after we talk today and see if I 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.400 can get kind of their more updated research, because I 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.160 know they're working on projects right now. They aren't even 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.880 published yet, but I would say that they did a 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.560 bunch of projects, like during the pandemic that found that, 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:33.319 for example, gay Tennesseeans were just as likely as everyone 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.640 else to buy guns during the pandemic. The risk of 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:41.120 guns suicide is really high in queer communities, and so 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.199 this question of suicide, which is an issue anyway, particularly 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.679 for trans communities, when you're in a place where it's 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.680 easier to get guns, you're just basically giving people the 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.200 easiest means of the most effective I hate that word, 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.400 means of suicide. So it's kind of like all the 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.840 regular is shoes, but they're just amplified. And so that's 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.240 kind of what if you're in a place where it's 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.400 easier to get guns, Like we used to think only 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.400 white men did mass shootings, but then it turned out 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.600 white men had access to the guns, and that was 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.800 part of I mean, there are other reasons too, obviously 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.280 that I write about. But when you have marginalized the 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.920 risk communities and easy access to firearms, they then see 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.439 similar or sometimes worse trends than you do in regular culture. 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.880 You know what I find. So I guess shocking to me, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.120 and I guess this is just based on like the 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.439 universe in the communities that like I'm a part of that. 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.880 When I think about the lgbt Q plus community, I 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:49.240 think of probably the most progressive set and the most 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.000 left leaning set right. And so when I think about 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.720 progressivism and those that are definitely more left leaning, I 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:01.400 think about being anti gun right. But then I also 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.600 know that this is a community that is consistently targeted, right, 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.720 that as we've seen over the last several years. I 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.160 mean I just saw a map the other day that said, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.720 what like forty three states have anti trans policies on 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.840 the books, and that number just continues to rise. That 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.920 the more targeted you feel, the more likely you feel 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:27.120 that who is supposed to quote unquote protect you doesn't, 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.600 And so there's this need to protect yourself. Can you 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:35.640 speak to like the way that again, the fear mongering, 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:40.600 the targeting is kind of this cyclical, you know, feeding 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.160 the monster of feeling like you are so isolated and 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.800 alone that you must then you know, arm up. 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.200 Well, let me just say, because this is really the 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:56.559 million dark question, right. You never see there's tons of homophobia, transphobia, 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.520 everything else. But I will eat my computer mouse if 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.280 there's ever a law that says that people in those 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.320 groups can't buy guns. Right. In other words, what we 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:13.439 do is we target people. We people are tribalized, but 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.200 those are great for gun markets. In fact, those are 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.680 how gun markets are constructed. And so in What We've 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.960 Become my book, as you know, I talk about how 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.440 after the George Floyd murder there was a really conscious 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:33.160 effort to sell guns to black and Latino Americans using 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:37.240 the tagline that the police are not going to protect you, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.440 and so you should arm up or the police could 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.440 kill you, or they're not going to come. So they 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.520 kind of use this, and then when Black Americans started 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.280 buying more guns, which they did after the Floyd murder, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.480 then they had all these pictures of black people at 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.120 Black Lives Matter protests with guns, and then that would 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.920 be used to market guns to white people, saying, hey, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.920 the black people have guns, you the white people need gun. 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:05.760 So you know who acts like this, They're called arm stealers. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:08.200 And so part of what we see is that this 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.440 is arm stealing. That's usually that's a war, right, But 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.240 here we see it in the in the society. And 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.640 I think I told you this once off record, but 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.160 I'll save here that after October seventh, I was getting 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.920 a ton of social media stuff. I mean, Jews and 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.240 everybody else were really scared and really a tribalizing moment. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.240 It was a polarizing crisis, and my Instagram was full 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.360 of gun ads and I'm like, what the hell? But 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.200 then I realized, like, oh, like you know, I said 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.120 somewhere I'm Jewish, and like all these Jews went out 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.440 and bought guns and then whatever. So crisis is an opportunity, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.560 and especially when people are marginalized. And I guess you know, 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.600 the question is does owning a gun bring you equality? 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.600 But I mean it's not even like does owning a 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.080 gun bring you equality? It's like does owning a gun 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.680 acquiesced like the year that you have? I think that 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.680 it would amplify it. Right, And so if crisis becomes 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:10.320 like a money making opportunity for these arms dealers, which 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.040 are one hundred percent right in that terminology, then what 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.560 would the marketing look like on the what is the 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:21.040 pr on the other side? Right? That disrupts this idea 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.200 that things are so bad you can't trust police, you 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.200 can't trust quote unquote public servants to protect you, so 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.360 you must protect yourself. Like how do folks go about 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.520 disrupting that? To break that cycle? 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.960 The two main things that I advocate for, as you know, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.240 at the end of what we've become, which people should get. 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:46.320 It's I hear great things, but I don't think that 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.040 disrupting the gun industry is just it sounds great, but 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.320 I guess should be. The three main things that I 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.200 focus on. Number one is that we have not in 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.440 any way pushed back hard enough on public carry, on 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.640 open can carry of long guns. And so part of 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.480 the issue is it's not just about the shootings. For me, 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.640 the shootings are like microcosms of these much bigger issues, 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.200 which is like the feeling that you need to be 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.359 armed against your neighbor. And so part of what I 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.240 talk about in the book is that we just because 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.800 the mass shootings, I mean, I'm sorry, open carry it 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:26.280 doesn't register data that links to death or injury. It's 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:31.280 not amenable to most guns safety regulations, right because it's 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.560 not injuries or death, which is what we're trying to prevent. 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.080 But I think that the it's the it's like the 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.320 end of civic space if everybody's armed and just waiting 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.879 for somebody to do a bad thing. And so what 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.479 I talk about is rebuilding civic space and ways that 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.480 make people feel safe. That's not even really about regulating guns, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:55.800 it's more like street lights and green space and jobs programs. 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.679 And so for me, I'm like a structuralist, right that 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.280 in a way, if we if this is an issue 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:06.239 of public safety, people feeling safe, you know, invest in 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.879 the subways, which is why I'm sorry, like congestion pricing 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.359 didn't happen and stuff like that. But like all these things, 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.000 and if you don't invest in them, like the subway 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.120 feels a lot less safe because the lights are flickering 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:17.640 and it's. 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.520 Right and every time it rains, like it becomes an 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:21.439 entire flood. 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.320 As if for me, number one is structure, Number two 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:28.040 is investing in public space. I just think the barn 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.960 door is long open about people owning guns in their homes. 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:33.960 That's the Heller decision two thousand and eight. We're not 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.280 going to get that back in our lifetime. But I 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.840 do think that investing in public safety and public space, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.399 and then the third is having nothing to do with 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.880 the gun industry. It's actually the long game that got 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.399 the NRA in power in the first place, which is 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:52.040 that they paid attention to the judiciary and so for them, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.240 they had people who no matter what the headline issue 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.560 was of the day, they were going to vote for 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.600 politicians who going to put judges in place, who were 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.320 going to do their agenda. And so for me, it's 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:06.720 also that we the right, really had a long game, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.680 and right now the left needs a long game also, 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.679 which ends with doing something about the Supreme Court and 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.600 all these other courts. 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.320 One of the things too, I get the desire for 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.240 us to say we want to dismantle the gun industry, right, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.800 But I really like what you're talking about, which is 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:34.320 really about infrastructure and thinking about how we build community. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.800 I've lived in, you know, two very different areas in 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.600 Brooklyn since I left Washington, d C. And moved to 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:45.800 New York. And I will tell you that the quote 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.959 unquote safest communities right that I have ever lived in, 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.360 and that I grew up in on Long Island, I 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.879 never saw police, like unless they were stopping literally at 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.960 the bagel store to get breakfast. I never saw pla 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:08.919 And this idea that creating environment, yes, like picking up 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.480 food like that was like there was no I had 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:17.080 no relationship because I and I will say this, I 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:21.760 lived in a majority white community growing up, and so 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:28.040 there was sidewalks and parks and you know, golf courses 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.840 and like and the like, and so the cops were 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:35.240 like not there. In the safest communities that I've ever 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.399 walked around in, whether they're in Brooklyn, on Long Island, 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:42.040 in Washington, d c. Or in other places, they are 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:47.919 largely more affluent, white areas where safety is a given, 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.000 and it's not because it's flooded with cops. And so 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:55.600 I never understand then the other side, which is that 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:01.160 I'm in a neighborhood that is underserved, that doesn't have 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.960 basic things like grocery stores and banks and what have you, 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.840 and they're like, Oh, this neighborhood is so unsafe, We'll 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:12.040 flood it with cops. And I'm just like, how does 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:16.440 that work? Because you see that what does what does 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:21.280 the community that doesn't need that doesn't require over policing have. 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.960 It has parks, it has sidewalks, it has grocery stores, 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:31.320 it has community centers, it has like things that connect 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:34.080 and build a community. So I'm just curious that, like 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.560 when when you see the differences, right, like you live 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:41.000 in Brooklyn too, you navigate and go around into the cities, 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:46.120 Like why when we're talking about how to create safe communities, 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:53.240 does that not translate between racialized communities for our representatives 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:54.120 and whomever. 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.320 Yeah, there's a book called Dying of Whiteness that talks 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.480 about really and it talks about how people don't want 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.800 to invest in the other, even if it might help 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:07.880 everybody who they perceive as the other. And I think 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.960 this is another example. Right, the examples you give about 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.880 making neighborhoods feel safe is just the tip of the iceberg. 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:20.119 I mean, there's this great sociologist, Patrick Sharky, I think 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.520 he's at Princeton now, who talks about how when you 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:27.680 start doing that, those neighborhoods become incredibly economically viable. It's 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.960 actually like it's great economic policy. And then you have 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.600 more taxpayers, more people paying into the system, more people 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:42.119 paying into public transportation. That's also true, Like there's the 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:48.800 McKenzie and Black Economic Forum that talks about how companies 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.080 that have the most diversity are the most prosperous and 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:53.919 all these kind of things. And so they're just as 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:58.159 zillion examples. And I don't know's the history of the 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:02.600 color line, right, But it's not just that. It's also anxiety, fear, 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:05.680 fear that like that bad stuff's kind of spill over 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.240 into your neighborhood, et cetera, et cetera. 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.800 So common sense just is not common because the spillover 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.679 would absolutely happen if you don't stop the spread. And 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.520 how do you stop the spread? By putting an investment 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:23.600 into areas that have been historically underinvested, there won't be 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.720 spillover if they have all of the same things that 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:28.879 you have over here. 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.040 Yeah, no, I mean, I mean considering considering that, that's 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:36.040 the some argument of like all of my scholarship could 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:38.359 I could not agree more. And the other thing is 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:41.720 we get into these binaries that are maybe not helpful, 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:46.240 like capitalism. Anti capitalism is one example, but like what 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:50.600 I'm talking about is like incredibly capitalists, right. I mean, 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:55.040 it's it's good to have new markets with new internet 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:59.560 providers and new supermarket chains. It's good to think about 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:03.880 guns safety in a way that actually is economically viable. 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:08.120 I mean, smart guns, technology that only recognizes the hand 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.919 of the shooter, et cetera. And so I just think that, 0:24:13.400 --> 0:24:15.520 I mean, it's hard to think of a term other 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:17.960 than dying of whiteness for this because it's it's not 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:20.520 you know, but that's kind of where we're at. But 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.000 I mean, look at this congestion pricing thing, right, I mean, 0:24:23.000 --> 0:24:23.760 it wasn't popular. 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:26.080 I think we'll explain it because not everybody lives in 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:26.440 New York. 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:28.119 I mean, it was not handlbil, but they were going 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:31.120 to tax people who drive into New York because there's 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:34.280 way too much traffic, and then use that money to 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:40.240 invest in infrastructure, transit lines, extending public transportation to Harlem, 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:45.720 fixing the freaking G train, which is need of fixing 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.560 all these things. And this is not the only example, 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:51.760 but it's kind of like at times where people people 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:55.960 become irrational when they're asked to pay for something that's 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:59.399 for somebody else. And the thing is, it's not just 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:01.920 about race. It is about I mean, it is about 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:03.960 race a lot, but it's not just about race. I mean, 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:07.200 I'm from Kansas City. They just had this big referendum 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:12.240 about should we extend to one cent tax on sales 0:25:12.680 --> 0:25:14.800 to pay for the football stadium for the Kansas City 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:18.240 Chiefs whoever re loves and everybody rallied and said we're 0:25:18.280 --> 0:25:20.879 not spend any money when they are all these billionaires. 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:23.800 And now the Chiefs are almost certainly going to move 0:25:24.119 --> 0:25:27.280 out of Missouri and so done again, people would probably 0:25:27.280 --> 0:25:29.280 be like, oh, man, we should have vote voted for that. 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:31.840 But when it's like, oh, people are being asked to 0:25:31.960 --> 0:25:35.800 pay for infrastructure, there's an assumption that the money is 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:38.960 somewhere else or someone's gaming the system. It just it 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:42.600 feels like it feels like a weird you know. The 0:25:42.640 --> 0:25:45.240 book I'm writing now is about Amazon not coming to 0:25:45.480 --> 0:25:48.760 New York and that whole thing, and like it's like 0:25:48.880 --> 0:25:54.480 we kind of rally around rejecting or divesting or dismantling things, 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:57.680 but it's harder to think about, like, Okay, then how 0:25:57.720 --> 0:25:59.560 are we going to build them? So I know this 0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:02.880 is along answer, but it seems like it follows through 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:04.840 a lot of these stories. 0:26:04.840 --> 0:26:07.680 You know. So basically Americans have no sense of community 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:10.720