Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay f Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. So, folks,
Speaker 1: it has been now two days since the State of
Speaker 1: the Union and you no doubt heard my thoughts on
Speaker 1: woke Wednesday yesterday. But I the level of rage that
Speaker 1: I had while listening to the State of the Union
Speaker 1: is almost on par No, I guess it's not really
Speaker 1: on par, but it is almost like right below Trump levels.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you why. And here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Here's the problem with the Biden administration, with Democrats in general.
Speaker 1: And I know, you know, people ask me and they say, hey,
Speaker 1: I started listening to your podcast, which hi all to
Speaker 1: welcome to the new listeners. I'm really excited. Please share
Speaker 1: with your friends. But people are asking me, They're like, well,
Speaker 1: what's the solution, what's the solution, And I'm like, the
Speaker 1: solution is actually really easy. You tell the fucking truth, right,
Speaker 1: You tell the truth about what's happening in this country,
Speaker 1: what needs to be done, and you do it. What
Speaker 1: I'm finding really interesting are the acts that the Department
Speaker 1: of Justice is taking. For instance, the Department of Justice
Speaker 1: is deciding that they're going to put their full weight
Speaker 1: and force behind going after Russian arligarchs who have been
Speaker 1: buying up real estate and property and you know, boats
Speaker 1: and yachts and just shit inside of the United States,
Speaker 1: and they're going to freeze those assets and they're going
Speaker 1: to go for They're gonna go for the gold and
Speaker 1: the gusto. And when this was first reported by CNN,
Speaker 1: my thought was like, Okay, so what the fuck are
Speaker 1: you doing about the American oligarchs that funneled money into
Speaker 1: the pockets of oh, I don't know, the fucking oath keepers,
Speaker 1: the Proud Boys, those people that were tactically planning on
Speaker 1: the ground the insurrection. Where is this kind of like
Speaker 1: Biden standing up in front of Congress, in front of
Speaker 1: the fucking free world, and I use quotations in saying that,
Speaker 1: in front of the free fucking world, talking about like
Speaker 1: how the United States is going after these oligarchs and
Speaker 1: going after the wealthy, and I'm saying, where's the fucking smoke, Biden?
Speaker 1: For the American oligarchs. You have fucking Donald Trump sitting
Speaker 1: up real cozy at Marlago. You got people sitting in
Speaker 1: that room right on the night of the State of
Speaker 1: the Union, who themselves were on the phone with insurrectionists
Speaker 1: who were using their money, their access right, their strategic
Speaker 1: planning in order to help people overthrow the government in
Speaker 1: the United States. And yet we're putting all this fucking
Speaker 1: smoke and fire behind getting Putin. And I'm like, who
Speaker 1: the fuck is getting McCarthy, Who the fuck is getting Gates,
Speaker 1: Who the fuck is getting Donald Trump? Who the fuck
Speaker 1: is getting Eastman? Right, Like, I am so confused about
Speaker 1: how we had Democrats jumping up and down, screaming and
Speaker 1: chanting USA. Also notably, why Republicans sat on their fucking
Speaker 1: hands right, jumping up, chanting USA. And you're not doing
Speaker 1: dick in this country in order to secure our democracy.
Speaker 1: You're so busy going around wielding your big stick and
Speaker 1: fucking yelling from the top of the rooftops. How Putin
Speaker 1: doesn't know what he's up against. Well, apparently Republicans don't
Speaker 1: know who they're up against because they ain't up against anybody.
Speaker 1: They clearly have no opposition because they are doing the
Speaker 1: same fucking things in the United States. They may not
Speaker 1: be rolling out heavy artillery, but if you fucking remember
Speaker 1: from the insurrection, they built a fucking guillotine. Those people
Speaker 1: had tactical equipment. They were either active or retired military
Speaker 1: and police officers and all types of law enforcements. Right
Speaker 1: there were people that were put on chartered buses from
Speaker 1: all around the country to head to Washington, DC. Where
Speaker 1: the fuck is the follow up on who funded that?
Speaker 1: I just you know, folks, I am losing what is
Speaker 1: left of my fucking mind these days because I got
Speaker 1: to hold multiple things at one time. On one hand,
Speaker 1: I want to say, yes, the Ukrainian people need absolute
Speaker 1: help and protection and they are fleeing devastation that we
Speaker 1: cannot imagine. I wrote about it in media, putting myself
Speaker 1: in their shoes, as if this would happen on our soil.
Speaker 1: You saw it on Patreon, you see it on media.
Speaker 1: But and at the same time, I'm like, if one
Speaker 1: more person sends me more reports of how the Ukrainians
Speaker 1: are treating the fucking black immigrants that are in their country,
Speaker 1: telling them that Ukrainians first, white people first black people.
Speaker 1: You gotta walk twelve fucking miles in order to get
Speaker 1: to a border just to be turned away, and we
Speaker 1: can't talk about that. At the same time, you want
Speaker 1: to use it as a motherfucking footnote at the end
Speaker 1: of news segments. I have watched CNN, MSNBC, BBC and
Speaker 1: all of them will say, oh, well, you know the
Speaker 1: Ukrainians and they will show you know, horrible, horrific images
Speaker 1: and videos. Because let's all not forget right that media
Speaker 1: is a money game. It is a ratings game, and
Speaker 1: so what bleeds leads that is the fucking truth. And
Speaker 1: it has always been in journalism, right. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, it is not only right the blue wide
Speaker 1: and the white that are fleeing war and violence and destruction.
Speaker 1: And so why is it why is it not being
Speaker 1: called out by those people, particularly journalists of color, that
Speaker 1: do have this space and place to do so calling
Speaker 1: out how radically different the fucking coverage is when wanting
Speaker 1: to invoke empathy in the world about these babies and
Speaker 1: these women so long as they are white. But we're
Speaker 1: not telling the fucking stories of black people, black Africans,
Speaker 1: immigrants of color being told to get off of buses
Speaker 1: as if it is nineteen fifties fucking Jim Crow America
Speaker 1: and the reality. I tweeted this yesterday and I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, do you know what gets me on many,
Speaker 1: many occasions, is that no one gives a fuck about
Speaker 1: black people. Do you remember back before Kanye was still
Speaker 1: kind of Kanye and it was the Awards season and
Speaker 1: it was a it was a telethon or something to
Speaker 1: that nature for Katrina. Right, So we're talking about the
Speaker 1: twenty tents when Katrina hit and Kanye West stood up
Speaker 1: in front of the world and said, George Bush doesn't
Speaker 1: care about black people because black people were on their
Speaker 1: rooftops as well, screaming for help, right they were being
Speaker 1: picked off and shot at by police. Because when black
Speaker 1: people in New Orleans, we're trying to get the basic
Speaker 1: needs that they water, food from flooded out grocery stores.
Speaker 1: The media said, look at those looters, white people doing
Speaker 1: the same fucking thing. Oh my god, look at these
Speaker 1: victims of Hurricane Katrina. It is the same shit that
Speaker 1: plays out on the micro level fucking here in the
Speaker 1: United States, that plays out all over the world. And
Speaker 1: do you know what it is called. It is called
Speaker 1: anti blackness. And I am so fucking tired of the
Speaker 1: laziness in journalism right now, the fucking lazy and the
Speaker 1: neglect and the purposeful erasure of the trauma and the
Speaker 1: struggle that black immigrants and immigrants of color are facing
Speaker 1: as they too are fleeing alongside their white compatriots to
Speaker 1: try and get to fucking safety, and no one gives
Speaker 1: a shit. Biden, in his State of the Union, which
Speaker 1: opened up all about Ukraine, could have used that as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to say to his colleagues, right those that
Speaker 1: are in the European Union that says that discrimination should
Speaker 1: have no place in your country. It should have no
Speaker 1: place right now as all types of people, black people,
Speaker 1: immigrants of color are also fleeing. Yes, people in Ukraine,
Speaker 1: we understand and we see the torment that you are
Speaker 1: going through. But that does not mean that you get
Speaker 1: to kick people who are also fleeing and needs safe
Speaker 1: down so that you can trample on them to get
Speaker 1: what it is that you need. My God, but once
Speaker 1: again this administration, when given the opportunity to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, will make sure that they punt it way
Speaker 1: down the fucking field. Let me go on with the
Speaker 1: State of the fucking Union, which is trash right to
Speaker 1: say this, Joe Biden. Joe Biden wanted to close out
Speaker 1: his speech earlier this week, trying to rally the rally Congress,
Speaker 1: and while you're at it, post pass the Voting Rights Act,
Speaker 1: and pass this, and pass that, and pass this and
Speaker 1: all there's all this applause. And do you know what
Speaker 1: I realized as I was listening to Joe Biden as
Speaker 1: a veteran in politics for the last I don't know,
Speaker 1: ten fifteen fucking years, is that it is the same
Speaker 1: fucking things that you've been trying to pass for the
Speaker 1: same amount of fucking time that have never gotten done
Speaker 1: because you don't have any strategy, because you're not willing
Speaker 1: to do whatever it takes in the same vein that
Speaker 1: Republicans are willing to do whatever it takes to destroy
Speaker 1: and disrupt our democracy, to put women back chained into
Speaker 1: the kitchen, to put black people back chain behind a
Speaker 1: fucking car. They are willing to do what it takes.
Speaker 1: Democrats are not. And so Joe Biden can rattle off
Speaker 1: all of the fucking things and then to put I
Speaker 1: mean to make matters worse, We're not trying to defund
Speaker 1: the police. We need to fund the police. Are you
Speaker 1: fucking kidding me? Why don't you just spit in my
Speaker 1: goddamn face and the faces of black people that had
Speaker 1: you in the middle of a fucking pandemic, march for
Speaker 1: our fucking lives, risk our lives through a virus, only
Speaker 1: to march for our lives to beg police to stop
Speaker 1: fucking killing us like dogs in the street. But you
Speaker 1: want to talk about more funding, as if we have
Speaker 1: enough money in the world to fund right to fund
Speaker 1: out racism. Are you kidding me? The fucking police department
Speaker 1: in New York City has a budget in the fucking billions,
Speaker 1: in the billions. You think that, oh, what, they're all
Speaker 1: of a sudden not racist. Now you think, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, what they're not throwing black and brown men
Speaker 1: and women up against walls, patting them down. Oh, because
Speaker 1: crime is up so they get to do whatever the
Speaker 1: fuck they want. Crime is up because the social safety
Speaker 1: nets are broken. Crime is not up because we need
Speaker 1: more police. Show me the wealthy white neighborhoods in this
Speaker 1: country that are crawling around with police because that equal safety.
Speaker 1: Give me a fucking break. Joe Biden doesn't get it.
Speaker 1: Democrats don't fucking get it. And you know what, I
Speaker 1: will vote right because it's all that I can fucking do.
Speaker 1: But I will absolutely understand the people that dead. I'd
Speaker 1: not to because this country hasn't done dick for them.
Speaker 1: But we keep putting our self, our lives, our hopes
Speaker 1: right on the line, only to be told much like
Speaker 1: the Ukrainians are telling the fucking African immigrants get to
Speaker 1: the back of the bus or get the fuck off.
Speaker 1: You know how many people said in Twitter right that,
Speaker 1: oh my god, the progressive shouldn't have been giving a
Speaker 1: rebuttal and oh my god, now is not the time.
Speaker 1: Now is not the time. Now is not the time.
Speaker 1: Tell me when the time is right, because I agree,
Speaker 1: now is not the time. But tell me when the
Speaker 1: time is right? Is it when the comment is hovering
Speaker 1: over us right and our impending disaster is just minutes away?
Speaker 1: Is then the time? We are running out of time?
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times and how many different
Speaker 1: ways that I need to say that, because I feel
Speaker 1: I feel like I am screaming into a void. Because
Speaker 1: when I looked around at the tweets, the hot takes
Speaker 1: coming off right after Biden was done, you would have
Speaker 1: thought that, like he gave the speech to end all speeches.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking to myself as I was sitting on
Speaker 1: the couch, were we all listening to the same thing.
Speaker 1: What was rousing about that? What was deserved of applause
Speaker 1: for that? To say? What to spend half the time
Speaker 1: talking about how you're going after authoritarianisms, after an authoritarian regime,
Speaker 1: after a dictator, right that is right now waging war,
Speaker 1: But you're not talking at all, not one fucking mention
Speaker 1: of the war that is being fought at home right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying not that it is an either
Speaker 1: or proposition. I'm saying that it is a both end.
Speaker 1: That could have been a transitional point to talk about
Speaker 1: what we are facing at home as our democracy is
Speaker 1: being ripped away, one voter suppression law at a time.
Speaker 1: Right that, after he was painting the picture of how
Speaker 1: evil Vladimir Putin is, that maybe he could have reminded
Speaker 1: the American people who exactly the last president was chummy with,
Speaker 1: who not only days before, had stood up in Marlago
Speaker 1: or where the fuck he was, to talk about how
Speaker 1: smart Putin was, to praise him, and that there were
Speaker 1: members that were within this very chamber who were applauding
Speaker 1: his moves and say, why can't we have a president
Speaker 1: that is like this? Like this? He had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to show the American people exactly who the Republican Party is. Instead,
Speaker 1: he referred to them once a fucking again as my
Speaker 1: friends from across the aisle. Are we insane? I just
Speaker 1: you know, folks, I have very little patience I do.
Speaker 1: I pop off very quickly because I am not the
Speaker 1: smartest person in the room, right. I am not the
Speaker 1: one who has pedigree upon academic pedigree. But I am
Speaker 1: not fucking dumb, and neither are you. So if all
Speaker 1: of us can see the parallels between what is happening,
Speaker 1: all of us in woke f nation who consistently are like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, am I crazy? We come together as
Speaker 1: a collective here, right because it is the only place
Speaker 1: that I find these days where I don't feel crazy.
Speaker 1: Because when I turn on cable news, when I open
Speaker 1: up my computer to scrawl through and see who is
Speaker 1: writing what and where, I'm like, are we all look?
Speaker 1: Are we all in the same country right now? Are
Speaker 1: we all paying attention to the same things? Because I
Speaker 1: don't think so. You know. It is it's as if,
Speaker 1: like our we don't have the capacity to hold big
Speaker 1: things right, We don't have the capacity to be able
Speaker 1: to see more than through a pinhole. And that is
Speaker 1: exactly what Joe Biden showed us as we I mean
Speaker 1: when I heard fund the police, and fund the police,
Speaker 1: and fund the police. You fund the police with fucking tanks.
Speaker 1: Do you not remember the tanks that were rolled out
Speaker 1: in Ferguson. That was before the protests that happened in
Speaker 1: Oregon and the protests that happened in New York in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. It was in Ferguson that we saw the
Speaker 1: militarized gear that you were so busy funding, funding, funding
Speaker 1: the fucking police with so that they can then turn
Speaker 1: around and use it against us. But then you want
Speaker 1: to come shuck and jive over to black and brown
Speaker 1: communities talking about give me your vote. Fuck you. That's
Speaker 1: how I feel right now. Fuck you. I'm so tired
Speaker 1: of being used as a pawn in a game that
Speaker 1: I did not make up, in a game that I
Speaker 1: didn't volunteer for. I didn't ask to be fucking tribute.
Speaker 1: And here we are being used and abused because what
Speaker 1: they told us that we have no choice, we have choices,
Speaker 1: And I keep saying that's over and over again, and
Speaker 1: people will say, well, what is the choice not to vote.
Speaker 1: The choice is to burn the ship down. That's the
Speaker 1: fucking choice. How do you do that? Opt out? That's
Speaker 1: how you do it. You begin to opt out, You
Speaker 1: begin to opt out of this pageantry and shit show. Right,
Speaker 1: do you know what the state of the Union was
Speaker 1: to me? It was like a pep rally for a
Speaker 1: losing fucking team. That's what it was. Them all up
Speaker 1: and down at being oh at the same talking points.
Speaker 1: Let me tell the same stale stories with new faces
Speaker 1: attached to them. If I heard one more story about
Speaker 1: my dad and Scranton, Joe Biden is almost a hundred
Speaker 1: and six. I don't care about your dad and Scranton.
Speaker 1: Scranton is not the only place in America we're fucking
Speaker 1: working class where what you really want to say is
Speaker 1: white working class people are the working class does not
Speaker 1: look like the white man and the hard at with
Speaker 1: the hard lunchbox headed out while his wife kisses him
Speaker 1: goodbye while she's holding a baby and a pie at
Speaker 1: the same fucking time. Where are we right now? We're
Speaker 1: trapped in some weird dystopian present where it's like the
Speaker 1: rest of us, see exactly what's happening, see exactly the
Speaker 1: plans and the direction that we're moving in. And then
Speaker 1: you have the powers that be that are so desperate
Speaker 1: to hold on to what was that they are losing?
Speaker 1: What is that State of the Union was a pep
Speaker 1: rally that I did not need. It didn't offer a
Speaker 1: fucking thing. And on top of that, you want to
Speaker 1: talk about, oh, well, we'd take our masks off, isn't
Speaker 1: isn't this what we all wanted? No? I didn't want
Speaker 1: it in time for mid terms. I wanted masks and
Speaker 1: mitigations to be rolled back when the scientists and the
Speaker 1: doctors said so, not when they were being dictated by
Speaker 1: the political fucking calendar. And if you think for a
Speaker 1: fucking minute that the people that had never been wearing
Speaker 1: their masks all along are gonna all of a sudden
Speaker 1: be like, oh, well, look Biden is with us now,
Speaker 1: US anti vaxers, anti maskers, so now we're going to
Speaker 1: vote Democrat? Are you dumb? They haven't voted with you
Speaker 1: since nineteen fifty? How many times do we need to
Speaker 1: say that? But the base who you decided to throw
Speaker 1: under the bus yesterday with your oh fun fund fund
Speaker 1: the police, Yeah, you're gonna find fine, fine, Your asshole
Speaker 1: by yourself, because I went. I went, and I pulled
Speaker 1: up various sights where I know that black and brown
Speaker 1: people are always active in the comments sections. And I looked,
Speaker 1: and let me tell you something that folks are like, Oh,
Speaker 1: so I hope he's not looking for a second term.
Speaker 1: I hope he's not coming to my community for a vote.
Speaker 1: Oh he can go take that fun fund down there
Speaker 1: to the white neighborhood, because that is not me. Imagine
Speaker 1: if this is how I feel, as somebody who is
Speaker 1: actually a staunch Democrat who has committed their life's work
Speaker 1: to strengthening and securing and expanding our democracy, that if
Speaker 1: I feel like this, what do you think that lukewarm
Speaker 1: people felt like they are ice cold? Now they are
Speaker 1: fucking done and they're going to decide that you know what, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pay attention to what is happening
Speaker 1: at the national and federal level because nothing is happening
Speaker 1: for my benefit. Right, you want to throw out these
Speaker 1: little COVID checks and blah blah blah blah, as if
Speaker 1: people are going to remember that come November, no, they
Speaker 1: would actually remember being able to vote. They would actually
Speaker 1: be they would remember being able to get an abortion.
Speaker 1: They would actually remember having investments in their public schools.
Speaker 1: They would actually remember and understand a real push to
Speaker 1: deal with our climate crisis, none of which is happening.
Speaker 1: They would even right take all of that that I
Speaker 1: just listed, put that on the back burner. If you
Speaker 1: would have put the people that were responsible for COVID
Speaker 1: s writing, that were responsible for the insurrection in jail,
Speaker 1: because at least then you would have a fucking talking
Speaker 1: point as to why I need to go with you.
Speaker 1: But you tell me what is the why? Why are
Speaker 1: we Democrats? Why are we voting for them in November?
Speaker 1: And it can't just be because the other guy is
Speaker 1: a white supremaist, but that's what they're banking on. Somebody
Speaker 1: tweeted out and said, oh my god, who's doing the
Speaker 1: emails for the Democrats? I just got an email and
Speaker 1: it was horrible. It was all about Trump instead of
Speaker 1: all about Oh, I don't know the entire Republican Party
Speaker 1: that rolled out four hundred voters depression laws, that is
Speaker 1: trying to strip away your ability to have an abortion,
Speaker 1: that is putting a target on LGBTQ kids back. Did
Speaker 1: you hear any of that last night. Did you hear
Speaker 1: any of that in the State of the Union. I didn't,
Speaker 1: and I was waiting, you know, I had thoughts and
Speaker 1: i'd put it up, and I said to folks, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go live after. I'm gonna go live after, right,
Speaker 1: And then I said, I'm not giving this country anymore
Speaker 1: of my time. I'm gonna go rest because it's not
Speaker 1: worth it. It's not worth it for me to stay
Speaker 1: up to scream. I can do that the next day,
Speaker 1: the day after. We are insignificant fucking trouble in this country,
Speaker 1: significant trouble. And that one thing was mentioned in that
Speaker 1: State of the Union that would send off any alarms,
Speaker 1: not one thing, folks. Coming up next, I'm very excited
Speaker 1: is my conversation for the very first time with doctor Fauci.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know him, he doesn't need any introduction.
Speaker 1: And I asked doctor Fauci a couple of things. We
Speaker 1: talk about COVID obviously, but I asked him about the
Speaker 1: coincidence in the fact that we are moving towards these
Speaker 1: quote unquote mitigation efforts or turn them completely backrolling them
Speaker 1: completely back coincidentally close to midterms, and you know, is
Speaker 1: that something that is a coincidence. Are we really still
Speaker 1: following the science? Those are just some of the questions
Speaker 1: that will come up in my interview with doctor Faucci. Folks,
Speaker 1: I don't need to do any type of introduction for
Speaker 1: the man that we have all seen and heard from
Speaker 1: over the last two plus years. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what time zone we are in right now or what
Speaker 1: wormhold that we are in with COVID. Doctor Fauci, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for making the time to join Woke
Speaker 1: a f Over the past couple of days, the past
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, we have seen a number of mitigation
Speaker 1: efforts being changed and a bunch of different guidelines being
Speaker 1: offered up by the CDC. Can you offer us some
Speaker 1: clarification as to why we are seeing these moves being
Speaker 1: made now by our governors with rolling back, mass wearing indoors,
Speaker 1: rolling back. They need to show vaccination cards, things that
Speaker 1: were actually used in order to kind of relieve our anxiety,
Speaker 1: find ways to kind of normalize this very abnormal situation.
Speaker 1: Why are we making these shifts now? Well, there's good
Speaker 1: scientific reason to do that. You know, there are different
Speaker 1: phases of what we've gone through over the last couple
Speaker 1: of years the like rather fulminent pandemic phase, which just
Speaker 1: you know, a few months ago we were dealing with
Speaker 1: almost a million cases a day, nine hundred thousand cases
Speaker 1: a day. The hospitals were threatened in their capacity, the
Speaker 1: deaths were very high. We've turned the corner at least
Speaker 1: now with this Armicron variant. The Armicron variant was very challenging,
Speaker 1: much more transmissible than DELGA, a little bit less virulent
Speaker 1: in that many people had already been vaccinated and or
Speaker 1: had gotten infected. But what we've seen over the last
Speaker 1: several weeks is a peak and then a very sharp,
Speaker 1: steady decline in cases, particularly in hospitalizations. And right now
Speaker 1: it's felt that given the direction of where this is going,
Speaker 1: which is in the right direction, and given the fact
Speaker 1: that the metrics for guidelines about things like masking requirements
Speaker 1: in indoor spaces including schools, according to the new metric,
Speaker 1: which is driven much more by how much severe disease
Speaker 1: there is rather than how many infections there are, because
Speaker 1: many of the infections are without symptoms, any of them
Speaker 1: have mild symptoms. So that the CDC has made I
Speaker 1: think the appropriate decision of saying, if you look at
Speaker 1: the map of the country on a county by county basis,
Speaker 1: if you count us cases, then ninety plus percent of
Speaker 1: the country would fall under the umbrella of the guideline
Speaker 1: to continue restrictions like masking and indoor places, masking in schools. However,
Speaker 1: with the new metrics going in the right direction, and
Speaker 1: given the fact that we now are prepared. We have vaccines,
Speaker 1: we have boosters, we have anti virals, we have hundreds
Speaker 1: of millions of testing available easily for people, and we
Speaker 1: have hundreds of millions of masks for those who need it,
Speaker 1: it is felt that we can begin to take those
Speaker 1: gentle steps, as it were, towards normality, which we all
Speaker 1: want to be at. So really it's a turning of
Speaker 1: the corner. Having said that, Danielle, we still must always
Speaker 1: be prepared to recognize and respond to any new variant
Speaker 1: or to come along. We're going in the right directions,
Speaker 1: can pull back, we can say it's over, there's no
Speaker 1: chance of getting another variant. We've got to be prepared
Speaker 1: to respond to another variant. So this is the question
Speaker 1: that I really want to ask, and obviously you're going
Speaker 1: to be asked by everyone, which is if we lull
Speaker 1: ourselves back into this place of quote unquote normalcy, and
Speaker 1: people get comfortable with not having the mass, not showing vaccinations,
Speaker 1: not needing to social distance, and all of these things.
Speaker 1: If a new variant which is more likely than not
Speaker 1: to rear its head, how likely is it that we're
Speaker 1: going to be able to pull people back from the
Speaker 1: normalcy that we're allowing them or saying that is available
Speaker 1: to them right now. Well, that's part of the strategy.
Speaker 1: If one looks at it and examine it carefully, is
Speaker 1: that it is what we call like a sliding scale.
Speaker 1: It's you know, people have made metaphors and saying that.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're in a really severe rainstorm, you
Speaker 1: go out and you put your gloshes on, your raincoat,
Speaker 1: a hat, an umbrella. Then when the rain slows down,
Speaker 1: you know, you may not have to have the galoshes
Speaker 1: in the raincoat, just an umbrella, and when it stops raining,
Speaker 1: you can put the umbrella down. However, when it starts
Speaker 1: to rain again, you take the umbrella out again, you
Speaker 1: put your raincoat on again, you put your galoshes on again.
Speaker 1: That's what we're saying, we want to go and we
Speaker 1: are going in the right direction, but we need to
Speaker 1: be prepared to be able to recognize and quickly respond
Speaker 1: to the fact that there may be another variant. We
Speaker 1: can't be frightened and waiting for a variant and freeze
Speaker 1: ourselves where we are. We can approach normality as long
Speaker 1: as we keep in mind that we need to be
Speaker 1: able to recognize and respond to a variant if and
Speaker 1: when it occurs. You know, and I love that analogy,
Speaker 1: I think to myself, though, funny enough, people don't protest
Speaker 1: the rain, and so they're more unluckily to put on
Speaker 1: galoshes when they need to because they don't see it
Speaker 1: as a political exercise. What do you say to the
Speaker 1: parents right now of young children that are under the
Speaker 1: age of five, that aren't able to get vaccinated at
Speaker 1: this time, who still feel like they are in a
Speaker 1: vulnerable state because their children are not covered. That's an
Speaker 1: excellent question that so many parents are asking who have
Speaker 1: children in that age group, And the answer to that
Speaker 1: is to do what you can to surround your children
Speaker 1: with people who are vaccinated and boosted, and when you're
Speaker 1: in a vulnerable situation to wear a mask. We are
Speaker 1: trying now to get to the point where we don't
Speaker 1: need to have masks on children, but we want to
Speaker 1: make sure that the schools are safe. And this is
Speaker 1: what I refer to as communal responsibility. There are many
Speaker 1: people for a variety of reasons. Many of them are
Speaker 1: politically I wouldn't say motivated, I don't mean motivated, but
Speaker 1: have a political tinge to it about not wanting to
Speaker 1: get vaccinated, saying I'll worry about myself and I'll take
Speaker 1: care of myself and I'll take the risk. But when
Speaker 1: you're dealing with a transmissible virus, you have a personal
Speaker 1: responsibility to yourself and to your family, but you also
Speaker 1: have a responsibility to society because if you really want
Speaker 1: to make sure we put this virus, this outbreak in
Speaker 1: the rearview mirror, we can make a contribution by not
Speaker 1: giving the virus the opportunity to circulate among us, and
Speaker 1: you do that by getting vaccinated. Nobody likes to mandate
Speaker 1: or require things. We call upon the spirit of the
Speaker 1: American people to be part of a society and communal
Speaker 1: effort to crush this virus. And that's the reason why
Speaker 1: we practically plead with people to get vaccinated and to
Speaker 1: get boosted to protect themselves, their family, and their community.
Speaker 1: You know, the other part of this pandemic too, isn't
Speaker 1: just obviously the loss of life, but it is also
Speaker 1: the emotional health and the erosion of emotional health and
Speaker 1: mental health and wellbeing that we've seen across the country
Speaker 1: since the beginning of the pandemic. What are your thoughts
Speaker 1: about how, as a race to get to this normal,
Speaker 1: that we deal with the collective trauma that we've experienced
Speaker 1: in this country and around the world, and that that
Speaker 1: getting back to normal will erase kind of the experience
Speaker 1: and the trauma that people are still holding and will
Speaker 1: be holding. That's such a good point, Danielle. In fact,
Speaker 1: that's an important part of our comprehensive approach to dealing
Speaker 1: with this outbreak. You're absolutely correct. There have been scars,
Speaker 1: emotional scars, economic scars, mental health scars that people have had.
Speaker 1: We have got to and we will put resources into
Speaker 1: addressing mental health, developmental and other issues with regard to COVID.
Speaker 1: It is a very important issue that we can't neglect.
Speaker 1: We know, we've seen the detrimental effect of when kids
Speaker 1: are not allowed to be in school in person number one,
Speaker 1: number two, we've seen the stress on families who've lost
Speaker 1: their jobs because of the effect on the economy. Those
Speaker 1: are things we have to address. They're all part of
Speaker 1: the broad problem. And finally, last question, what do you
Speaker 1: say to the critics, doctor Fauci, that are saying that
Speaker 1: the expedient nature that we are withdrawing the mitigation efforts
Speaker 1: are in time for midterms that are in a couple
Speaker 1: of months. What do you say to those people are
Speaker 1: that are saying, isn't this interesting timing? Well, I just
Speaker 1: think that's just absolutely not the case. We're guided by
Speaker 1: public health issues, by the science, by the data, by
Speaker 1: the evidence. That has always been the case. One of
Speaker 1: the important and unfortunate aspects of all of this is
Speaker 1: that the divisiveness in this country is so contraindicated when
Speaker 1: you're trying to deal as a nation together to fight
Speaker 1: one of the greatest challenges that we've had in well
Speaker 1: over a hundred years. It's really unfortunate that there has
Speaker 1: been politicization of that that does nothing but impede an
Speaker 1: effective response. That's too bad, unfortunately. I want to thank
Speaker 1: you so much for your time and all of the
Speaker 1: work that you have done in trying to provide clear guidelines,
Speaker 1: facts and steps to keep us all safe over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, and we appreciate it. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, Dannyell. It's good to have been with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, folks. And now for your woke
Speaker 1: moment of wellness. The State of the Union really got me.
Speaker 1: It put me back in a place of anger and
Speaker 1: rage that I don't want to be in. And while
Speaker 1: it is my work right, my job to follow the
Speaker 1: news and report on it and analyze it and be
Speaker 1: able to figure out a way to deliver it to
Speaker 1: all of you, it was an important moment that I
Speaker 1: want to offer that I believe each and every one
Speaker 1: of us need to recognize in our own lives. I,
Speaker 1: like I said, I was going to go live right
Speaker 1: after the State of the Union. I was going to
Speaker 1: go and do an Instagram live, and I realized that
Speaker 1: I had no more energy left in me. And like
Speaker 1: I said, this country doesn't deserve it. I needed rest.
Speaker 1: And I think too often we are told to keep going,
Speaker 1: keep grinding, keep pushing, and ignore what our bodies right
Speaker 1: and our minds are telling us. I am done. That's
Speaker 1: what happens when we reach exhaustion, right when we can't
Speaker 1: move from the couch when it's hard to get up,
Speaker 1: our body and our mind is telling us I am finished,
Speaker 1: and instead of ignoring it, instead of pushing ourselves to
Speaker 1: be as productive as we can. I think that a
Speaker 1: part of self care is really listening to those signals
Speaker 1: that are sometimes not so subtle, that our minds and
Speaker 1: our bodies are sending to us. Right, that you need
Speaker 1: to rest. Right, that it is okay not to follow
Speaker 1: the blow by blow, That it is okay to turn
Speaker 1: it off, That it is okay to not send that
Speaker 1: email because I'm not in the right frame mind. Right,
Speaker 1: that it is okay to tell your bosses right, I
Speaker 1: need a break. Like a friend of mine just recently said,
Speaker 1: I need a sabbatical. I've been doing this work, I've
Speaker 1: been doing all these things. I'm going through a lot
Speaker 1: of issues. I need a break. We have to be
Speaker 1: able to recognize for ourselves before we have a breakdown,
Speaker 1: when enough is enough. And I really hope, through active,
Speaker 1: regular self care that we don't continue to push ourselves
Speaker 1: to that break where we have a breakdown and then
Speaker 1: realize that we need the rest. Rest is not something
Speaker 1: that we should earn. Right, We don't need to earn it.
Speaker 1: We're human beings, We're not machines, and I think that
Speaker 1: it's important always for us to recognize that truth. So
Speaker 1: allow yourself, give yourself the permission to take a break
Speaker 1: before you push yourself too far and then your body
Speaker 1: pushes back in ways that end to you in the hospital.
Speaker 1: This self care, right and wellness is about prevention, right,
Speaker 1: not just preventing like our rage from taking over our bodies,
Speaker 1: but from preventing that rage to turn into sickness and
Speaker 1: take over our bodies. So do pay attention not just
Speaker 1: to the news, but to yourself as always, dear friends,
Speaker 1: Power to the people and to all the people. Power.
Speaker 1: Get woke and stay woke as fuck, and stay well
Speaker 1: as fuck.