1
00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:08,639
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday. It is August seventh. Here we are. I

2
00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:11,280
Speaker 1: know it's supposed to be deep into the summer, but

3
00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,440
Speaker 1: there's also plenty of places that are either started school

4
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,440
Speaker 1: this week or we'll be starting school next week. It

5
00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,239
Speaker 1: is I know it can feel and the only the

6
00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:25,800
Speaker 1: only way you know it's still vacation time in Washington

7
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: is that traffic's been kind of smooth on this front.

8
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,880
Speaker 1: But let's not kid ourselves. There's a lot going on

9
00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 1: and then some By the way, I hope you did

10
00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,479
Speaker 1: catch my episode yesterday on the Atomic Bowl. On the

11
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,599
Speaker 1: we're in the eightieth anniversary sort of three day period

12
00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:52,040
Speaker 1: of the United States dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

13
00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:54,640
Speaker 1: and the conversation and the and the sort of the

14
00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,640
Speaker 1: way Nagasaki in particular is lost in some ways is

15
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,560
Speaker 1: lost in history. I think that Greg Mitchell just did

16
00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: a great job servicing that. So I know, really I'm

17
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:06,920
Speaker 1: telling you to go back to a pod, but if

18
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,800
Speaker 1: if you've missed it, it is worth your time, and

19
00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:11,800
Speaker 1: I hope you take a look at it. I also

20
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,880
Speaker 1: had a bunch of political updates on that pod, and

21
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:16,520
Speaker 1: there was a couple of things before I get to

22
00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,679
Speaker 1: my main point I want to get to, which has

23
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,720
Speaker 1: to do with American public health, and we're going to

24
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:23,160
Speaker 1: get to that in a minute. By the way, my

25
00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:27,040
Speaker 1: guest today is Terrence Lester, Doctor Terrence Lester. He wrote

26
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 1: a book that sort of that caught my eye. It's

27
00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,319
Speaker 1: called From Dropout to Doctorate. It's a it's a personal memoir,

28
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 1: but also sort of a call to action if you will,

29
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,160
Speaker 1: first hand account of, you know, what it's like to

30
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,200
Speaker 1: grow up without the resources that perhaps government should be providing.

31
00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 1: Terrence Lester grew up in Atlanta, a single mom, had

32
00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,840
Speaker 1: just you know, all the challenges that come with that.

33
00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,040
Speaker 1: He has since, after earning his own PhD, has since

34
00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:03,760
Speaker 1: really focused on the issue of homelessness and how particularly

35
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,680
Speaker 1: when kids get caught into this, and the rights that

36
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,520
Speaker 1: they deserve when it comes to public schools and access

37
00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:16,919
Speaker 1: to public schools and access to dignity. Frankly, and he's

38
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,560
Speaker 1: got a terrific program that I want folks to learn about.

39
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 1: But I also thought it was a good way to

40
00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,359
Speaker 1: try to jump start a conversation that I really think

41
00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:25,960
Speaker 1: we need to have nationally, which is look our public

42
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,160
Speaker 1: school system needs to be. I mean, we basically have

43
00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,359
Speaker 1: the same system we designed at the beginning of the

44
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: twentieth century, and we really haven't updated it. And the

45
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 1: fact is, there is plenty of research out there indicating

46
00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,920
Speaker 1: that there's a lot there's frankly, some better ways that

47
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,600
Speaker 1: we can educate and as I understand people's frustration, and

48
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,919
Speaker 1: unfortunately too many politicians have decided, Hey, the best way

49
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,079
Speaker 1: to solve our public school crisis is to take money

50
00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 1: away from the public schools, give it to people and

51
00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 1: let them spend it on private schools. Well, problem is

52
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 1: there's very little accountability in the private school space. They're

53
00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,880
Speaker 1: using public tax dollars and still don't have the accountability

54
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 1: that they need. And at the same time, we're probably

55
00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,320
Speaker 1: hurting ourselves any more. You know. I think there is

56
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:18,800
Speaker 1: a direct line from essentially self segregation which has taken place,

57
00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,920
Speaker 1: particularly in our school systems over the last twenty to

58
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 1: thirty years, and polarization today. You know, I think those

59
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,800
Speaker 1: two things go hand in hand. Shared experiences and shared

60
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:36,360
Speaker 1: learning experiences and understanding, having a broader understanding of how

61
00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,360
Speaker 1: people live their lives in different ways is something that

62
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,920
Speaker 1: is an asset in the public schools. I think it

63
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,000
Speaker 1: was an asset for me going to a large public

64
00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,680
Speaker 1: high school graduation class of nearly a thousand, you know,

65
00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,560
Speaker 1: the cultural education that comes with that, I think only

66
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 1: has made me a better citizen today, has given me

67
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: the empathy that I think we all need to have

68
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,280
Speaker 1: when we talk about when you hear things about pulling

69
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,040
Speaker 1: yourself up by the bootstraps type of mindset. Anyway, I

70
00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 1: think you're going to really enjoy this conversation with doctor

71
00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,680
Speaker 1: Lester in a few minutes. But before I get to it,

72
00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:10,200
Speaker 1: like I said, I want to first there was a

73
00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,440
Speaker 1: couple of quick little political things that I wanted to

74
00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 1: get to campaign updates before I get to my main

75
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:20,720
Speaker 1: point here on public health and sort of what is

76
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,800
Speaker 1: happening there. It's it's quite alarming, and I'll get to

77
00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,040
Speaker 1: in a minute. But we did have elections. One of

78
00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,680
Speaker 1: the things I always like to say is if it's

79
00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,920
Speaker 1: if there's a Tuesday, somebody's voting somewhere, Well Tuesday, that's

80
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:38,560
Speaker 1: somewhere was Washington State, in particular King County, Seattle. This

81
00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 1: was sort of you know, they do the top two situation,

82
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,359
Speaker 1: and what I think I wanted to single out is

83
00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,640
Speaker 1: that the basic takeaway from what we saw in Washington

84
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:52,440
Speaker 1: State is something that I think is meaningful nationally right now,

85
00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,920
Speaker 1: the more left leaning candidate led in every single major

86
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,720
Speaker 1: race in Seattleattle and in King County, including the Seattle

87
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: Mayor's race, where the incumbent Bruce Harrel actually finished second

88
00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,279
Speaker 1: to a more progressive challenger named Katie Wilson. Ready for this,

89
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 1: Seattle hasn't re elected an incumbent mayor since two thousand

90
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,800
Speaker 1: and five. Greg Nichols got elected in O one, got

91
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,440
Speaker 1: re elected in five and systematically one term mayors and nine.

92
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,320
Speaker 1: Michael McGinn was elected then defeated in thirteen. Ed Murray

93
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,719
Speaker 1: was elected in thirteen, decided not to run again in seventeen.

94
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,039
Speaker 1: Jenny Durkin was elected in seventeen, decided not to seek

95
00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,800
Speaker 1: reelection in twenty one. Brus Harrol, the current mayor, got

96
00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: elected in twenty one and it is trying to seek reelection. Look,

97
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,320
Speaker 1: Seattle has been a very tough place to govern over

98
00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,320
Speaker 1: the last decade. There's been a lot of In many ways,

99
00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,680
Speaker 1: it's been among the ground zeros. There's lots of ground zeros,

100
00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,719
Speaker 1: but among the ground zeros in sort of the debate,

101
00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,039
Speaker 1: particularly inside the Democratic Party, of how to govern cities,

102
00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:58,839
Speaker 1: and I think you know, there's been a lot of

103
00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: disappointment with in many way Seattle is vacillated. They'll get

104
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,599
Speaker 1: progressive leadership and then they won't like that. The business

105
00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,320
Speaker 1: community will rally around a candidate that doesn't go well,

106
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,560
Speaker 1: the progressive community throws out that candidate. So you have

107
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,960
Speaker 1: seen this vast and it's all taken place. He's sort

108
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,279
Speaker 1: of inside the larger Democratic ten. But I always I

109
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,200
Speaker 1: think you should pay attention to this because we've seen this.

110
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 1: By the way, incumbents, particularly mayor's races are in deep trouble.

111
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,280
Speaker 1: And you know, these are the big races this year

112
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:29,599
Speaker 1: other than the two governors races in Virginia and in

113
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:31,520
Speaker 1: New Jersey. But we're going to get a new mayor

114
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 1: in Detroit because the incumbent is running for Governor Mike Duggan.

115
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,520
Speaker 1: The incumbent in Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, has a serious primary.

116
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,760
Speaker 1: In fact, did not get his state party's endorsement. Omar

117
00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 1: Feta got the endorsement running as a Democratic Socialist. In Pittsburgh,

118
00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,360
Speaker 1: the incumbent mayor was defeated in a primary by Corey O'Connor,

119
00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,479
Speaker 1: who is likely going to be the next mayor. It's

120
00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,600
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to watch the mayor of Atlanta,

121
00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 1: Andre Dinkin's trying to win Dickens, excuse me, trying to

122
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,760
Speaker 1: win a second term. Where we're trying to see how

123
00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,800
Speaker 1: difficult is it going to be for incumbents of all

124
00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,279
Speaker 1: stripes to win over the next two years. I have

125
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,400
Speaker 1: a thesis that it's going to be tough to be

126
00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,640
Speaker 1: an incumbent anywhere. Right, Eric Adams was finding out the

127
00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,360
Speaker 1: hard way. We've already seen the mayor of Pittsburgh kicked out.

128
00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,800
Speaker 1: We've already seen the mayor of Seattle. So look, these

129
00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,480
Speaker 1: are when we talk about political analysts like me who

130
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,800
Speaker 1: quote read the tea leaves, these are the tea leaves

131
00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,720
Speaker 1: that I actually do read. Right, You pay attention to

132
00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,800
Speaker 1: mayor's races sort of in that year before the big

133
00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,720
Speaker 1: midterm cycle. You know, is it a cranky electorate? Are

134
00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,840
Speaker 1: incumbents getting thrown out or incumbents getting reelected? And I

135
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,520
Speaker 1: think we're seeing here incumbents in general are having a

136
00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,680
Speaker 1: tougher time, So that's worth noting. And then one of

137
00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,880
Speaker 1: the race I forgot to mention yesterday, A huge development

138
00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,760
Speaker 1: is in Georgia where Brian Kemp recruited former football coach

139
00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,920
Speaker 1: and the son of a really popular former football coach

140
00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:59,400
Speaker 1: in Georgia football history, Derek Dooley announced his candidacy for

141
00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,080
Speaker 1: the Senate, apparently against the wishes of the Trump White

142
00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,400
Speaker 1: House and the Trump political team. But I will have

143
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 1: to tell you when you have members of Congress in

144
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,880
Speaker 1: that primary and you have somebody who's never held office

145
00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,920
Speaker 1: before whose first name is coach, if I were the

146
00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,760
Speaker 1: Republican Party in Washington, I trust the governor of Georgia

147
00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:20,360
Speaker 1: to know his state a heck of a lot better

148
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:22,600
Speaker 1: than I would trust anybody else in that White House. Right,

149
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,720
Speaker 1: nobody has screwed up Georgia Republican politics more than Donald

150
00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: Trump and the idea that they are pushing back at.

151
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,520
Speaker 1: Don't trust Brian kept as sort of a head scratcher,

152
00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 1: considering that Brian Kepp has figured out he seems to

153
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 1: understand his state a heck of a lot better than

154
00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,600
Speaker 1: Donald Trump does. But I do think if you're John Ossa,

155
00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 1: this is not a good development. And while there may

156
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,800
Speaker 1: be a very stiff primary and it's going to be

157
00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,960
Speaker 1: interesting following it, we'll see. If I were us off,

158
00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,200
Speaker 1: I would hope that Trump gets in and tries to

159
00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,439
Speaker 1: kill Dooley, because I think of Dooley's a nominee. I

160
00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:03,040
Speaker 1: think that's the toughest, the toughest nominee that Asoff could face.

161
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:10,080
Speaker 1: All Right, get to my main point, and I want

162
00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,360
Speaker 1: to title this the public health menace. We're ignoring because

163
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,480
Speaker 1: you wouldn't know it from the headlines, but I would

164
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,040
Speaker 1: argue there's a five alarm fire blazing at the heart

165
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:23,480
Speaker 1: of America, American public health. Right now, political media is

166
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,319
Speaker 1: fixated on Epstein, on the redistricting wars, the latest MAGA

167
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,280
Speaker 1: power struggles. What's Lowa Lumer update. You know, the amount

168
00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,320
Speaker 1: of low lumor profiles is kind of absurd. But there's

169
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,920
Speaker 1: a real problem developing inside of HHS. The Secretary of

170
00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:42,120
Speaker 1: Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy JUNR, is taking

171
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:49,760
Speaker 1: his frankly far out their beliefs. Okay, these are fringe beliefs,

172
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,240
Speaker 1: and he is making it federal policy. Is quietly undoing

173
00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:58,480
Speaker 1: decades of vaccine policy. He's dismantling scientific infrastructure, and he's

174
00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,000
Speaker 1: putting the lives of millions at risk. This is not

175
00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,960
Speaker 1: a bureaucratic dispute. This is a live and active crisis,

176
00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,680
Speaker 1: one that is already laying the groundwork for preventable suffering.

177
00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,840
Speaker 1: We're going to see probably increased hospitalizations, We're going to

178
00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,440
Speaker 1: see long term illnesses, and we're going to see preventable deaths,

179
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,760
Speaker 1: all due to decisions Kennedy has made in the first

180
00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,720
Speaker 1: six months of office. Let's start. Let's look at the

181
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,560
Speaker 1: timeline of the Kennedy destruction of the public of what

182
00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,720
Speaker 1: has been the envy of the world when it comes

183
00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:36,559
Speaker 1: to public health, and Kennedy in six months is dismantling

184
00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: it and destroying it. So in May of twenty twenty five,

185
00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,840
Speaker 1: he unilaterly removed COVID nineteen vaccines from the CDC's recommendation

186
00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,000
Speaker 1: list for healthy children and pregnant women. There was no

187
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,800
Speaker 1: meeting of the CDC's Advisory committee, there was no review,

188
00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 1: There was no scientific data that he presented to make

189
00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,200
Speaker 1: his case, just a sixty second social media video flanked

190
00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,880
Speaker 1: by agency heads who did not include anyone from the

191
00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:07,200
Speaker 1: CDC itself. And you need to understand something here. COVID

192
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:12,200
Speaker 1: infection during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth, preclamsya,

193
00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,000
Speaker 1: blood clots, kidney failure, long term complications for both mother

194
00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:19,840
Speaker 1: and baby. The CDC, the American College of Obstetricians, and

195
00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 1: guide in colleges, and every single credible global health body

196
00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,000
Speaker 1: has made it clear vaccinating pregnant women is the single

197
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,440
Speaker 1: most effective way to protect infants who cannot be vaccinated

198
00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:34,040
Speaker 1: themselves until months after birth. So he takes this away,

199
00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:38,440
Speaker 1: putting at risk unborn children. This administration claims to care

200
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,120
Speaker 1: about the unborn, but they don't care enough to protect

201
00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,880
Speaker 1: them from COVID nineteen. Kennedy have ignored all the scientific

202
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:48,360
Speaker 1: research on this, and when he was asked to explain

203
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,880
Speaker 1: his decision, he offered zero evidence because he has none.

204
00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,240
Speaker 1: There was no clinical trial, there was no epidemiological review.

205
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,480
Speaker 1: It was just a belief. And this is a pattern.

206
00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,959
Speaker 1: So in June, weeks later, he dissolves and reconstituted the

207
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 1: CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the ACIP, all seventeen members,

208
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,760
Speaker 1: got rid of them, and he replaced them with the pointies,

209
00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 1: far more aligned with his own vaccine skepticism. Again, no

210
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,400
Speaker 1: documented scientific rastionale just to claim that he believes with

211
00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:25,280
Speaker 1: no evidence that ACIP was conflicted. He said, it's a

212
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,720
Speaker 1: decades old accusation from the anti vaccine fringe, no proof,

213
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,000
Speaker 1: just his belief and the fact is he had the

214
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,240
Speaker 1: power to do it. And then just this week, Kennedy

215
00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,560
Speaker 1: canceled more than a half a billion dollars in contracts

216
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,079
Speaker 1: for the development of the mRNA based vaccines. Vaccines that,

217
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,880
Speaker 1: let's be honest here saved millions of lives during the

218
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,600
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen pandemic and now could be key to stopping

219
00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,040
Speaker 1: the spread of the bird flu H five and one

220
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,720
Speaker 1: as it's called. So these canceled vaccine contracts included one

221
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,760
Speaker 1: with Maderna to develop this next generation bird flu tech vaccine.

222
00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,360
Speaker 1: Price of eggs has been skyrocketing because of this. By

223
00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:09,480
Speaker 1: the way, these were not speculative investments, okay, Early results

224
00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,440
Speaker 1: were promising, the technology behind them was honored with a

225
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:17,360
Speaker 1: Nobel prize. Okay, Kennedy cut it all off. No public

226
00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:22,520
Speaker 1: scientific justification, just some vague language about safer platforms and integrity.

227
00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:29,000
Speaker 1: Total sabotage by a fringe cuckoo belief that he has

228
00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:33,480
Speaker 1: had for years, and it gets worse. During his confirmation

229
00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,720
Speaker 1: hearing before the Senate, Kennedy made a very specific pledge.

230
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,000
Speaker 1: According to Senator Bill Cassidy, who said it on the

231
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:44,319
Speaker 1: floor when he decided to support Kennedy. I'm sure this

232
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,560
Speaker 1: is the worst vote Cassidy has ever cast. Now, I

233
00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 1: gotta think he has gigantic regret considering the millions of

234
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,240
Speaker 1: lives Kennedy's decisions have already put at risk. But in

235
00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,839
Speaker 1: that floor speech, Cassidy claimed that Kennedy promised him and

236
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,040
Speaker 1: no under certain terms, that he committed. We quote Cassidy here.

237
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,400
Speaker 1: He has committed that he would work within the current

238
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:08,080
Speaker 1: vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems. If confirmed, he will

239
00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:11,880
Speaker 1: maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Advisory Committee

240
00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,920
Speaker 1: on Immunization Practices without changes. Well, turn out to be bullshit.

241
00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:20,720
Speaker 1: Kennedy lied to Cassidy to get confirmed, and Cassidy has

242
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,800
Speaker 1: done nothing about it but send out a few tweets

243
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 1: saying it was disappointing he made the promise to secure votes.

244
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: He blew up the exact advisory committee that Cassidy says

245
00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,800
Speaker 1: he promised not to do. Sidelines to CDC reopens a

246
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:39,280
Speaker 1: childhood vaccine schedule for review, another thing he explicitly promised

247
00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,280
Speaker 1: not to do. But let's not pretend this is out

248
00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,600
Speaker 1: of character. Right, This is a culmination of a twenty

249
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:49,680
Speaker 1: year crusade against vaccines. He's not new to this. He

250
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,920
Speaker 1: founded and funded the fringe group called Children's Health Defense.

251
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,480
Speaker 1: It's the largest anti vaccine nonprofit in the country. According

252
00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:01,840
Speaker 1: to IRS filings, HD raised over seventeen million dollars during

253
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,000
Speaker 1: the COVID pandemic, much of it simply from online fear mongering,

254
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:12,000
Speaker 1: merchandise sales, conspiracy content, and likely paying for Kennedy's travels

255
00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:17,280
Speaker 1: and profiting off of this crazy stuff. Okay, just so

256
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,400
Speaker 1: you know. In twenty twenty one, Nature magazine and a

257
00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:24,480
Speaker 1: coalition of researchers labeled Kennedy individually and CHD is this

258
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:29,440
Speaker 1: Children's Health Defense. It's a terribly named right. He's obviously

259
00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:35,480
Speaker 1: trying to hide his crazy beliefs under something that sounds noble. Okay,

260
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,440
Speaker 1: But Kennedy and PhD were labeled a top global super

261
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,720
Speaker 1: spreader of vaccine misinformation. The content was linked to declining

262
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:48,960
Speaker 1: vaccine uptake, rising exemption rates, and the erosion of public

263
00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,920
Speaker 1: trust in the very systems that are now under Kennedy's control.

264
00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:59,160
Speaker 1: So when you see a parent questioning those basic okay,

265
00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:03,760
Speaker 1: the base vaccine schedules for children MMR, which is one

266
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,800
Speaker 1: for measles right, or a school district with exemption rates

267
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,760
Speaker 1: above fifteen percent, or a county health official trying to

268
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,160
Speaker 1: walk back years, or fear driven vaccine avoidance. Understand this,

269
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,440
Speaker 1: None of this happened by accident. It was engineered by

270
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,120
Speaker 1: Robert F. Kennedy Junior and his group. Okay, this isn't

271
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,800
Speaker 1: just he was among others. He was the leader of this. Okay,

272
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,120
Speaker 1: So what are the real time consequences of his crazy

273
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 1: leadership in this anti vax crusade that he's on. Well,

274
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,520
Speaker 1: the most damning evidence of his leadership here is what's

275
00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,520
Speaker 1: happening with measles. In twenty twenty four, there were two

276
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,360
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five cases. This year, there are more

277
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,120
Speaker 1: than twelve hundred cases across thirty eight states. It's the

278
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,720
Speaker 1: largest outbreak in more than thirty years, and sadly it's

279
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,560
Speaker 1: not over. What has Kennedy done about it? He called it.

280
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,480
Speaker 1: It's not unusual, he said, not unusual. Literally, largest outbreak

281
00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,400
Speaker 1: at thirty years, not unusual. He may need to check

282
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,200
Speaker 1: that brain worm to see if it's still in his brain,

283
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,199
Speaker 1: he suggested. By the way vitamins and antibiotics instead of vaccination,

284
00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,560
Speaker 1: so he cut CDC outreach programs. When it came to measles,

285
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,800
Speaker 1: he didn't issue a national call to action. In some states,

286
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,840
Speaker 1: he helped create the conditions where school clinics have been

287
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,960
Speaker 1: disrupted or disfunded, and it could end up being these

288
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 1: clinics could end up being canceled altogether. For those from

289
00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:26,600
Speaker 1: lower income neighborhoods, see the only way they can get vaccines.

290
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,639
Speaker 1: So let me say it again, during the worst measles

291
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,600
Speaker 1: outbreak in a generation, the HHS secretary didn't just do nothing.

292
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,119
Speaker 1: He actually went out of his way to make it worse.

293
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,520
Speaker 1: The head of public Health in the United States has

294
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,320
Speaker 1: made this measles outbreak works. You have one job as

295
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:49,640
Speaker 1: the chief face of public health to keep the country healthy,

296
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,719
Speaker 1: and he's done everything up of that. And make no

297
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,040
Speaker 1: mistaken who pays the price for this. It's children, particularly

298
00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:01,159
Speaker 1: low income children. Wealthy families they can still get access

299
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 1: to vaccines. They have concierge pediatricians. They'll pay out of

300
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:06,679
Speaker 1: pocket if they have to, they'll find a way. Well,

301
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:09,000
Speaker 1: what about the mother on Medicaid who's insurer is no

302
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,160
Speaker 1: longer going to cover a vaccine? That the CDC won't

303
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,080
Speaker 1: recommend because Kennedy has yanked the recommendation. A lot of

304
00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:20,000
Speaker 1: insurance decisions are based on CDC recommendations, a lot of

305
00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,600
Speaker 1: medicaid's decisions are based on CDC recommendations. So when he

306
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,720
Speaker 1: politicizes it with his fringe beliefs, and these are super

307
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,680
Speaker 1: fringy beliefs, this is what he's doing. So how about

308
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,680
Speaker 1: the child whose school nurse was laid off by the

309
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,240
Speaker 1: way after the federal outreach grant was cut. How about

310
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,920
Speaker 1: the Royal clinic that no longer qualifies for mobile vaccination

311
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,760
Speaker 1: unit because the guidelines changed overnight. No science, no process.

312
00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:49,399
Speaker 1: These are decades long consequences. You know, children that are

313
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:52,160
Speaker 1: missing their MMR shots mean more than just measles. They

314
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,840
Speaker 1: increase the risk of long term neurological damage, immune suppression

315
00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:01,040
Speaker 1: leading to secondary infections, severe complications for immunocompromise children and infants,

316
00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,920
Speaker 1: and yes, in some cases it's death. And we haven't

317
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:07,919
Speaker 1: touched on the risk of HPV related cancers due to

318
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,359
Speaker 1: lower guard to sell uptake, or the dangers of a

319
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,159
Speaker 1: mutating flu season with fewer vaccinated Americans to contain it.

320
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,560
Speaker 1: In fact, he basically got rid of the ad campaign

321
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 1: to promote the flu vaccine because he didn't want to

322
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,520
Speaker 1: promote any vaccines. And you know what you do when

323
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,440
Speaker 1: you don't do that, you allow the flu to just travel.

324
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,960
Speaker 1: It mutates, it becomes worse, and that kills people. So

325
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,480
Speaker 1: where's Congress and all this since he lied to Congress,

326
00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:38,280
Speaker 1: there's I'm sure articles inmpeachment have been drawn up. Right. Nope,

327
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,320
Speaker 1: total silence in Capitol Health. No emergency hearings, no subpoenas,

328
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:47,040
Speaker 1: no oversight, no cross examination of Kennedy's unilateral decision making

329
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,280
Speaker 1: on this. And here's the thing, my own sources have

330
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,280
Speaker 1: told me. The White House is absolutely nervous about the

331
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,440
Speaker 1: crazy shit Kennedy's been doing, and they've tried to micro

332
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:58,640
Speaker 1: manage it. They forced him to go down to Texas

333
00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,240
Speaker 1: to look like he cared about the measles outbreak there

334
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,960
Speaker 1: that of course was a pr disaster, when he said

335
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,159
Speaker 1: it's not that big of a deal. They know this

336
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,480
Speaker 1: is what's so damning. They know what he's doing is wrong,

337
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,840
Speaker 1: and they're doing nothing about it. They're looking the other way.

338
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,479
Speaker 1: Maybe they think they're you know, I get I understand

339
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,680
Speaker 1: the political reason Trump has brought Kennedy in his coalition.

340
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,880
Speaker 1: He doesn't think he wins without Kennedy and his coalition,

341
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 1: and maybe there's some truth to that, but my god,

342
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,280
Speaker 1: he is putting people's lives at risk. He is destroying

343
00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:36,040
Speaker 1: what was the gold standard for public health and vaccination

344
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,679
Speaker 1: research and virus research when it comes to Barta Barda.

345
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:42,920
Speaker 1: I had a European official tell me that if there's

346
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 1: one thing he wanted to emulate the United States government on,

347
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:51,520
Speaker 1: it was BARTA and the public private research partnership that

348
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 1: takes place there where government works with the private sector

349
00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,520
Speaker 1: to develop these vaccines and develop these clinical trials. I mean,

350
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: what we've done with m RNA research is unbelievable. And

351
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: Kennedy has these fringe beliefs, has no scientific research to

352
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 1: back up, and he's going to set the United States

353
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: and frankly the world back decades with these terrible decisions

354
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 1: without consulting. Here's the thing, like he will claim that, hey,

355
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,920
Speaker 1: there's science that proves that his skepticism is right. Well,

356
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,720
Speaker 1: first of all, there's not. But he never provides any

357
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,959
Speaker 1: of the research. He never does. This Children's Health Defense

358
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,119
Speaker 1: Organization is nothing but a front group some sort of

359
00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 1: grifting operation to prey on those who are skeptical of vaccines. Look,

360
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 1: I accept that there people get nervous about what to

361
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 1: put in their bodies. Right, that's why we have the

362
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,439
Speaker 1: scientific research. But you've got to count on scientists to

363
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,680
Speaker 1: be doing the right thing. And you know, our track

364
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: record's pretty good in this country on this, it's really good.

365
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,879
Speaker 1: And him undermining this, I mean, you know, look, we're

366
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 1: undermining everything this point. Right. We have a crisis of

367
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 1: confidence in government data literally due to Donald Trump's whims

368
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: when it comes to he doesn't like bad news, and

369
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,199
Speaker 1: if the government puts out data that runs counter to

370
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,840
Speaker 1: what he wants out there, he's firing people at will.

371
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: And then you got what Kennedy is doing, which is systematic.

372
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 1: He's taking these fringe beliefs and he's infusing it with

373
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:29,880
Speaker 1: government powder power. It's what I don't get is where's

374
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,479
Speaker 1: the outrage, where's the focus on this? I understand the

375
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 1: redistricting wars are important politically, and I understand the Epstein

376
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 1: story is interesting. People's lives are at stake with what

377
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 1: Kennedy is doing. We cannot afford to look away. So look,

378
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,200
Speaker 1: this is not about disagreement. This is not an ideological thing.

379
00:22:51,440 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: This is deliberate sabotage. Deliberate sabotage by an unqualified US citizen.

380
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: I don't know what else to refer to him as. Right,

381
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 1: he's got no expertise in anything. What's really a shame

382
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:08,760
Speaker 1: is that he used to be this really good environmental

383
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: activist and an advocate for certain environmental and in order

384
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: to make your case in the environment, you've got to

385
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: have really good scientific data. So the fact that he

386
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,360
Speaker 1: has sort of jumped into this fringe world of anti

387
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 1: vax you know this vagaries and you know, drink raw

388
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: milk and do all this stuff. I mean, it's just

389
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,159
Speaker 1: absolute nonsense. And by the way, now that he's showing

390
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: the example of drinking wile milk, he's gotten people sick

391
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: in Florida thinking that this is somehow a good idea.

392
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, his his you know, look

393
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:47,719
Speaker 1: the food dye stuff. Okay, that's I am. That's a

394
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,399
Speaker 1: good thing to be concerned about. But don't imply that somehow,

395
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: now that these dyes are out, that all of this

396
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: sugar loaded stuff is somehow healthier for you. It's no

397
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 1: healthy for you at all. So look, the guy is

398
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 1: a menace to public health. The fact that our political

399
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 1: leaders are looking the other way, the fact that there's

400
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: been so much silence among Republicans about what Kennedy has done,

401
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,719
Speaker 1: is the confirmation that they know this is wrong. Nobody

402
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 1: defends him, The White House will put out very carefully

403
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,719
Speaker 1: worded statements. Nobody wants to get close to this. And

404
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 1: for whatever reason he's allowed to stay there. He should

405
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: have been fired. He never should have been hired in

406
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 1: the first place. He never should have been confirmed, and

407
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,560
Speaker 1: his actions, which have directly led to a worsening situation

408
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: for America's public health, make him he should be fired yesterday.

409
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,800
Speaker 1: He should be impeached and convicted and thrown out of office,

410
00:24:55,200 --> 00:25:00,959
Speaker 1: and in the conviction never be allowed near the public

411
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 1: sector ever again. Because this is this I know, I

412
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,679
Speaker 1: get when it comes to this Kennedy business that I

413
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: get all riled up about it. But because the people

414
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 1: that are most that are going to get hurt the

415
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 1: most are the ones who have the least. And he

416
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 1: has his you know, little kayak clubs that he's you know,

417
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: this guy's never had a real job. His whole life

418
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: has lived off of his fathers and grandfathers, success and wealth.

419
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: He's done nothing to earn the status. If anything, he

420
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 1: has lived a professional life over the last twenty five

421
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 1: years that makes him the single most unqualified person to

422
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: lead public health that you could find in the United States.

423
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 1: And he's making all these terrible decisions, and he's putting

424
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:59,440
Speaker 1: all of our health at risk. Where's Congress, Where's the

425
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,360
Speaker 1: White House? They know, they know this isn't good. They

426
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 1: know this is bad for them. Look, this is going

427
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: to be bad for them politically, and they somehow are

428
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: afraid of his of this. You know, there is a

429
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: very robust, small, but robust and energetic world that does

430
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,640
Speaker 1: support what he's doing. And I have no doubt they're

431
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:27,479
Speaker 1: going to get angry by what I'm saying here, But

432
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: please stop doing this. Stop putting kids in harms way

433
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,680
Speaker 1: with your fringe beliefs. You're welcome to your fringe beliefs,

434
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 1: but don't impose the bad health.

435
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,919
Speaker 2: Outcomes on the rest of us. All Right, with that,

436
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 2: we will take a quick break and when we come back.

437
00:26:45,480 --> 00:27:01,879
Speaker 2: My conversation with doctor Terrence Wester is doctor Terrence Lester.

438
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 2: I booked him based on a book that he's out

439
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,560
Speaker 2: with or just coming from drop out to doctorate, and

440
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 2: as the book is described here, doctor Lester draws from

441
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 2: his own experience navigating poverty, trauma, and structurally design injustice

442
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 2: while pursuing higher education to illustrate systemic barriers confronting black communities.

443
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 2: And as I was talking to you before, I think

444
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,200
Speaker 2: there are two issues in general and sort of the

445
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 2: larger arena of American politics that we don't that the

446
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 2: public says is a priority and politicians don't necessarily tackle

447
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 2: directly in head on. One is housing, which I was

448
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,719
Speaker 2: talking about before, and the other is the public education system.

449
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 2: And I thought this would be a great way to

450
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 2: sort of try to jumpstart that conversation, Doctor Lester.

451
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 1: It's good to me too. Welcome to the podcast, Chuck.

452
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: I am.

453
00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 3: I'm thrilled to be here and really excited about this conversation.

454
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 3: I think, as you say to earlier in the side conversation,

455
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:09,119
Speaker 3: that education is should be one of our central focuses

456
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 3: right now.

457
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: I mean you.

458
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 3: Think about the massive amounts of students who are starting

459
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 3: school back right now. I mean my daughter started back

460
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 3: a couple of days ago, my son will start back Thursday.

461
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,159
Speaker 3: And I'm concerned and I'm really looking forward to her

462
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:28,639
Speaker 3: and having this conversation with you.

463
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,920
Speaker 1: Well, look, I first let's talk about your story. There's

464
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: a few things about it that jump out. Obviously, you

465
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: had a tough time growing up, and you certainly had

466
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: plenty of people who intervened in the right way. And

467
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: I think those experiences that you share are are very uplifting.

468
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: But but give us give you know, for those that

469
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: haven't read the book, give the give the quick origin

470
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: story and why you wanted to share the story.

471
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, I grew up in the city of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia.

472
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,520
Speaker 3: I'm a native here, been here all of my life.

473
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 3: Also do a lot of my nonprofit work here. But

474
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 3: I grew up in a part of the city that

475
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 3: was deeply impoverished. I mean I can travel back to

476
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 3: the neighborhood now and still see dilapidated buildings.

477
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: You know, underfunded schools or you know the divestment.

478
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,719
Speaker 3: You know, the roads are you know chaotic with all

479
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 3: of the potholes.

480
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: You know, buildings are falling down.

481
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 3: The whole non right, And so you have that aspect

482
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 3: of growing up impoverished. I grew up in the context

483
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 3: of a single parent household. I saw my mom, you know,

484
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 3: work multiple jobs and just be like a godsend and

485
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 3: a resilient lady to me and my sister.

486
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: She went on to overcome a lot.

487
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 3: Of her her struggles and got her doctorate in clinical

488
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 3: care elseling, but a single parent, and that left me

489
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 3: without any role models. I didn't have anybody to talk

490
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 3: to about how to tie tie or you know, what

491
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 3: is the things I should be thinking about in terms

492
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 3: of how do I matriculate through the educational system or

493
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 3: even a dream about going to college. And so you

494
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 3: have poverty, you have the way the city was structured,

495
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 3: because there's some aspect of how black communities were placed

496
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 3: impoverished settings. And then I had the trauma of my family,

497
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,120
Speaker 3: and then that kind of left me misguided, and so

498
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 3: I made a lot of decisions that were.

499
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:45,959
Speaker 1: You know, not healthy.

500
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 3: I lived out of my car as a teenager, I

501
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 3: ran away from home.

502
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: I experienced homelessness.

503
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 3: But then I had you know, several teachers and strangers

504
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 3: who became family that encouraged me, you know, and told me.

505
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: That I had more to offer the world.

506
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 3: I went from you know, experience and homelessness to graduating

507
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 3: with a PhD. And I'm sure we will talk about

508
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 3: that in my journey, but get a chance to study

509
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 3: the very thing that I had to overcome. So it's

510
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 3: it's personal to me. It's not just something that is,

511
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 3: you know, something I'm reading in a book or anything.

512
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:25,239
Speaker 1: Right, Well, what I think is so interesting here for

513
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: you to help us navigate these structural issues because now

514
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 1: I feel like it's almost like you're trying to unpack,

515
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: like how did this happen? And how do we make

516
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: sure this doesn't happen to somebody else? And I think

517
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: about when you grew when you know, I think you

518
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: and I are about the same age. Maybe you're slightly younger,

519
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: but you were growing up at a time that Atlanta

520
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 1: was booming, right, And so how did this how did

521
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,959
Speaker 1: this metro area that was booming? Because this, I mean,

522
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: I know this is true, and yet at the same time,

523
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 1: not everybody was lifted up, and in fact, pieces of

524
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: Atlanta work. Nordon, look I Atlanta. I'm curious. Atlanta strikes

525
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: me is we look at it from sixty thousand feet,

526
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,080
Speaker 1: feels like a very diverse metro area. The more you

527
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: get to know Atlanta, you realize it's a very segregated area.

528
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: So looking back what were some of the mistakes that

529
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: you feel like the development of Atlanta, right, the growth

530
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: of Atlanta, and why wasn't sort of shared prosperity.

531
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we're talking about the South, right, and

532
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,959
Speaker 3: we're still talking about the nineteen eighties, which is post

533
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 3: civil rights movement. We're starting to see major corporations like

534
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 3: Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, CNN. Atlanta experienced the first black mayor, right,

535
00:32:55,400 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 3: and that of Maynard Jackson, which that was like nineteen

536
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 3: seventy four, and so Maynard Jackson saw a lot of

537
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 3: the racial divis and the economic diversement, divestment in terms

538
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 3: of black communities right until he started to pioneer opportunities

539
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 3: for black communities, but they were still a part of

540
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 3: the city and its constituents that did not like that.

541
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 3: I mean, black people were still being excluded in many respects.

542
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 3: But you did have a community, a pocket of people

543
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 3: where there were black businesses and there were things like that,

544
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 3: but there was still a heavy, heavy divat when it

545
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 3: comes to poverty. I think the question that you're asking

546
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 3: is how does some people access upward mobility and then.

547
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: Ups do not?

548
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 3: And me speaking personally, when I think about the community,

549
00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 3: poverty was hard to escape. I mean, there were not

550
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 3: a lot of job opportunities, especially during the nineteen eighties,

551
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 3: and specifically in Atlanta, there were high concentrations of poverty

552
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 3: in certain communities. I mean, if you look at the

553
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,720
Speaker 3: historical concepts, I'd go into this in my book about

554
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:20,760
Speaker 3: how the city was designed, how roads divided communities from

555
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 3: you know, different communities.

556
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 1: By the way, this is repeated in place. I mean

557
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 1: Saint Louis is one of my favorite examples of this,

558
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 1: but it's repeated in so many cities. The development of

559
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: the interstates were used to to segregate communities.

560
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,760
Speaker 3: To segregate communities, And I grew up on that side

561
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 3: of town, and I remember my mom, you know, having

562
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:50,399
Speaker 3: to work two and three jobs. I hardly saw her right,

563
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 3: And it wasn't because she did not have the potential.

564
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 3: She graduated from HBCU. It was just that she would

565
00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 3: always community. It was hard for her to get a

566
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 3: career started. I think the thing that became pivotal in

567
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 3: her life, even watching her and how she communicated to

568
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 3: me as her child, and I've grown to become who

569
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:17,320
Speaker 3: I am today. It's a relationship that gave her access.

570
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 3: I mean, there are studies that show I mean, there

571
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,400
Speaker 3: are many research studies that show that relational equity and

572
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 3: relational wealth is one of the fastest ways that people

573
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 3: are able to move and matricolate out of impoverishment. I mean,

574
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 3: when we think about the wealth of relationships, wealth of

575
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 3: relationships gives you access to community, It gives you access

576
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 3: to wisdom, It gives you access to job opportunities, it

577
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 3: gives you access to even education. I mean, and when

578
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 3: you think about it, growing up in that type that

579
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:52,239
Speaker 3: time and that place in that city, for me, I

580
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,280
Speaker 3: just did not see a lot of those opportunities readily

581
00:35:55,320 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 3: available for my community members. One of the things that

582
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,319
Speaker 3: changed my life was the relationships that are started to

583
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 3: develop because I can go to my community right now

584
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:11,080
Speaker 3: and still see many people who were not able to

585
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 3: access some of those relationships.

586
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 1: So I was just going to that was sort of

587
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:21,520
Speaker 1: like what works. You know, if you could advise, if

588
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,720
Speaker 1: you could go back into time, you know what works

589
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: or what works, what's working now? And what what? Why

590
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: do you think there's still this barrier? Because I networking right.

591
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: This is the whole point of diversity. When when we

592
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:39,280
Speaker 1: talk about diversity, I always say, it's not about diversity

593
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 1: of hiring, it's about diversity of experience, right that ultimately,

594
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: when you put together for me it was a newsroom.

595
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,879
Speaker 1: I want a diversity of experience, of life experience, right,

596
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,359
Speaker 1: socioeconomic diversity, because if you're trying to understand, if you're

597
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: trying to try to report for an entire entire American electorate,

598
00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 1: then you better have people who've experience different facets of that. Yeah.

599
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 3: Sure, when you talk about diversity of experience in relationship

600
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 3: to those who may be impoverished, I guess my question

601
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:19,840
Speaker 3: to you before I answer, is does a person actually

602
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 3: have exposure to the experiences that could shape them or

603
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 3: bring out the potential that is there if they are

604
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:32,360
Speaker 3: not approximate to some of those relationships, Like I envision

605
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:37,439
Speaker 3: in my mind, like the child in a family who's

606
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 3: sleeping in a car, right and their family is on

607
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 3: housed and this student will get up, you know with however,

608
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,360
Speaker 3: they get themselves prepared and go to a school that

609
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 3: is title one that is underfunded. I mean, we talked

610
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 3: about how tax dollarsy or school systems that I imagine

611
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,400
Speaker 3: that child sitting in the classroom probably would know socks,

612
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,520
Speaker 3: which is why we did some of the work that

613
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 3: we do in typed schools to provide resource centers. And

614
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:11,880
Speaker 3: that child cannot even connect with a lesson socially emotionally

615
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:17,880
Speaker 3: you talk about social emotional learning. They're you know, so

616
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 3: focused on the suffering and the struggle that it's hard

617
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 3: for them to actually experience some of the diverse experiences

618
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:32,279
Speaker 3: that you're communicating and see beyond right their environment, which

619
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 3: is why I think you're saying we need diverse relationships.

620
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 3: We need people in community to bring a network of

621
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:45,279
Speaker 3: resources relationally to build up those who may find themselves

622
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 3: similar to like I was.

623
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 1: Well, look, I just I mean, I think just the

624
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: desegregating schools to me should have meant, you know, making

625
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,320
Speaker 1: sure we have schools with different socioeconomic families in the

626
00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 1: same school of course, and that is something that we've

627
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 1: i mean in some ways our school system. Then this

628
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: is where I think the social injustice and the social

629
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:20,560
Speaker 1: inequities have sort of combined to I think really, I mean,

630
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 1: I think the place where you see the most problems

631
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 1: right now is in the public is in the sort

632
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 1: of the public school system, because the social inequities then

633
00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:35,920
Speaker 1: lead those with money or those with access to charters

634
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,319
Speaker 1: or magnet schools to get out of the system, and

635
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:42,640
Speaker 1: then it sort of isolates and segregates, correct, I mean,

636
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 1: isn't that what red lining did. It's exactly what red

637
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,520
Speaker 1: lining did, right now, you know what I mean?

638
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,319
Speaker 3: Like I also talk about in the book, I make

639
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 3: I draw a comparison between red lining in terms of housing,

640
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,920
Speaker 3: because we all know housing is important when.

641
00:39:58,800 --> 00:39:59,959
Speaker 1: We talk about education.

642
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 3: To what I hear, I'm not saying that you're saying this,

643
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 3: but educational red line right where you're concentrated.

644
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:10,799
Speaker 1: A better way of putting it, I mean, and that's

645
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,640
Speaker 1: what it's turned into. Yeah, you know, remove.

646
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 3: Sort of like the diverse community of what could actually

647
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,399
Speaker 3: exist in the school, and you concentrate targeted populations within

648
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,759
Speaker 3: the context of school, and then that school may be

649
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:32,080
Speaker 3: left without resources. Is drawing upon you know, how much

650
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 3: the budget is for the school system based on the

651
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,640
Speaker 3: taxes that are paid by those who live in the community,

652
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,040
Speaker 3: all of those sorts of things, and so who it's

653
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:41,399
Speaker 3: hurt at the end of the day.

654
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 1: I believe as students.

655
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,399
Speaker 3: Are always are the educators who actually have good will

656
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 3: and heart to show up in these settings. And in

657
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 3: many ways they're in the trenches doing the best that

658
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 3: they can to serve the student population to hopefully, you know,

659
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 3: is up our next leaders, our next streamers, our next innovators.

660
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,359
Speaker 3: But in many ways it's hard to dream beyond that

661
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 3: those types of environments. If you're a student coming from

662
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:13,760
Speaker 3: you know, that type of concentration of poverty.

663
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,799
Speaker 1: It's what I to me, this is, you know, it's

664
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: sort of like you want to understand why we're so

665
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,279
Speaker 1: polarized and why it feels as if some people don't

666
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: even understand how other people live. Well, it's because we

667
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 1: we are. You know, we had made an effort to

668
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 1: be a melting pot, and then all of a sudden,

669
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: I would argue for the last you know, as we

670
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,840
Speaker 1: sort of legally said we should be in a melting pot,

671
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 1: we then as a society resegregated, right, And I think

672
00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 1: it's not you ask yourself like, how did we get

673
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: to this polarized moment that we are today? Well, you know,

674
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen quickly, right, It happens incrementally, And it's

675
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: like over time, the more you segregate out, the more

676
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,600
Speaker 1: you segregate, whether it's by religion, or whether it's by

677
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:03,600
Speaker 1: socioeconomics or whether it's by race. Well, then guess what.

678
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,719
Speaker 1: People don't understand how other people live. And then when

679
00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: you don't have that, you have no empathy. And then

680
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, everybody's a two dimensional figure not

681
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,439
Speaker 1: a three dimensional figure, and we get into the sort

682
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,280
Speaker 1: of the negative stereotypes that are driving our politics today.

683
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: So I know it's you know, it sounds a little

684
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:25,360
Speaker 1: you know, it's like, could really this is forty years

685
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 1: of doing this, But I would argue that, yes, you

686
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,760
Speaker 1: have to look at this as a cause, not the cause,

687
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:31,920
Speaker 1: but a contributor.

688
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you think is driving the separation these days?

689
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 3: From our lens? You know, I would see how some

690
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 3: people who may be connected to the community that I

691
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:54,920
Speaker 3: was fashioned in as always seeing the world as kind

692
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:59,040
Speaker 3: of being separate. I mean, there were advances where you know,

693
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,280
Speaker 3: you can get accept it into certain colleges. My grandmother

694
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 3: is ninety, she just turned ninety three. She still shoots

695
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:08,920
Speaker 3: me text messages.

696
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:14,160
Speaker 1: Right, still live in the neighborhood where I grew up.

697
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,279
Speaker 3: We have conversations and you know, you're talking to your

698
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,960
Speaker 3: grandmother and she starts telling her life story. Well, she

699
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:25,839
Speaker 3: was born in nineteen thirty two. She remembers redlining, she

700
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 3: remembers the assassination. She remembers not being able to work

701
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 3: in certain stores. She talks to me about how she

702
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,920
Speaker 3: was had to go to school and it was like

703
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 3: maybe forty fifty kids in a class of the beat

704
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 3: down textbooks and all of those things. And so I'm

705
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,920
Speaker 3: just when I hear you talk, I'm thinking about her lands.

706
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,919
Speaker 3: But even just recently I had a conversation with her,

707
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:55,800
Speaker 3: and she's still hoping that the world will be less separate,

708
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,120
Speaker 3: you know, to your point, I think.

709
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:01,799
Speaker 1: Well, she's seen she could.

710
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,560
Speaker 3: But as to your point, we are starting to see

711
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,960
Speaker 3: a resurgence of this kind of separate nature. I'm curious.

712
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:14,799
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting you talk about your grandmother's optimism. Yeah,

713
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:19,200
Speaker 1: now she saw us at her she saw the she

714
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:23,080
Speaker 1: was lived in a society that treated her much worse

715
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 1: right than you were. You've been treated sure, and so

716
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:34,240
Speaker 1: she so in her life span, she has seen progress, right,

717
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 1: And I think about this with you know, I always say, hey,

718
00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm literally I started school five years away

719
00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: from segregation in Miami. Right. I joke that I was

720
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: born in Miama, And I graduated high school in Miami, right,

721
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,319
Speaker 1: you know I started school in nineteen seventy seven. Well,

722
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,719
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't that much before then that you

723
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,640
Speaker 1: had in the Miami was a southern city like every

724
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 1: other southern city. What that meant back in the late

725
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,759
Speaker 1: sixties and early seventies. And yet so I grew up

726
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:06,319
Speaker 1: in a different way, right, And so I look at

727
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: it and it'say, well, we haven't made much progress. And

728
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 1: if you lived in the era that your grandmother did,

729
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,040
Speaker 1: it looks like we've made a lot more progress. So

730
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,400
Speaker 1: I I and in some ways I get her optimism. Yeah,

731
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,520
Speaker 1: but I also wonder, you know, will this be easier

732
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: to have this conversation with political leaders once the entire

733
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:31,440
Speaker 1: generation that actually lived in segregated America does or is

734
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: it going to be harder when that generation has completely

735
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 1: died off?

736
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:43,360
Speaker 3: Well, shout out to my grandmother, who is just a

737
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 3: beautiful woman and has a lot of hope, and it has.

738
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:47,400
Speaker 1: Always had a lot of hope.

739
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 3: I think I am the product of her sacrifice and

740
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:54,479
Speaker 3: labor and struggle and going through as well as my mother.

741
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: And I want to say this, you're an optimist, right, Yeah,

742
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

743
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 3: We're sitting here not being very optimistic, very optimistic, you know,

744
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:05,560
Speaker 3: but I got.

745
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:07,600
Speaker 1: That from your book. You're an optimist, you know, they're

746
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:08,759
Speaker 1: a man of faith. Right.

747
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:12,279
Speaker 3: I am a man of faith, man of folk, but

748
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 3: I rely on the faith of like my grandmother. And

749
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 3: to answer your question, I don't know. I think the

750
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:25,760
Speaker 3: grounds well of what we see currently in the future,

751
00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:30,760
Speaker 3: like when my grandmother transitions and that whole generation transitions away,

752
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,319
Speaker 3: I think we're having a totally different conversation. I think

753
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:41,040
Speaker 3: there will be uh more tension obviously, and but also

754
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:45,840
Speaker 3: the optimism is in me more opportunity, more opportunity to

755
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,759
Speaker 3: think beyond the ways in which we've done things, to

756
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,920
Speaker 3: come up with new things and new ways of actually

757
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:58,280
Speaker 3: solving issues. The optimsm the optimist and me always looks

758
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:02,480
Speaker 3: for what is being miss and what are the opportunities

759
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 3: of how we can actually change things?

760
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:04,719
Speaker 1: Right?

761
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:10,279
Speaker 3: Is educational institutions working currently? You know the way that

762
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 3: we are, uh, you know, storting our students. Do we

763
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:19,000
Speaker 3: need more diversity within the context of the educational settings?

764
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:24,040
Speaker 3: Should schools continue to be separate right based on wealth

765
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,719
Speaker 3: and income and all those things? I think about a

766
00:47:26,719 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 3: lot of those types of questions, and I think it's

767
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 3: something that we will have to answer in practice in

768
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,080
Speaker 3: the coming days and years.

769
00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:36,279
Speaker 1: So how do we tackle this because I do think

770
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:38,600
Speaker 1: we have to rethink how the public school system works,

771
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,279
Speaker 1: right as you just discussed. You know, I think about

772
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 1: where I live in my county, and there are whenever

773
00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 1: they redraw the lines, Okay, I live in a I

774
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,000
Speaker 1: live in a wealthier part of the county, right, and

775
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 1: when they redraw the lines, boy do my neighbors get

776
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:54,760
Speaker 1: up in arms. Whoa whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. I moved

777
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,239
Speaker 1: here for that school, right, you know, how dare you

778
00:47:58,320 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: draw me out of that school?

779
00:47:59,640 --> 00:47:59,719
Speaker 2: Right?

780
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,920
Speaker 1: Nobody gets parochial and all this stuff right where I

781
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,319
Speaker 1: always say this, and oh, by the way, I'm I'm

782
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:08,000
Speaker 1: in arguably one of the most liberal counties in America.

783
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:10,400
Speaker 1: Okay as far as voting is concerned. But you know,

784
00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:15,960
Speaker 1: everybody's a liberal for everybody else but themselves sometimes you know. Sorry,

785
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 1: but it's clear that the way we fund property that

786
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:25,759
Speaker 1: this is it's an out It feels like an outdated

787
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,120
Speaker 1: way to fund the schools. But what would be an

788
00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:31,400
Speaker 1: alternative way? And should we think of it as an

789
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,880
Speaker 1: alternative way. And would just getting rid of the property

790
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:40,840
Speaker 1: tax function of schools, would that createate the openness to

791
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 1: coming up with a different way to decide which how kids,

792
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:50,520
Speaker 1: which schools kids go to. I I think that would

793
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:57,600
Speaker 1: break the system, positively or negatively. Well, hey, you just

794
00:48:57,680 --> 00:48:58,239
Speaker 1: said that.

795
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:02,359
Speaker 3: You know, so of your neighbors were really distraught when

796
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:07,279
Speaker 3: they start redrawing the lines, right, So I think one

797
00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:11,080
Speaker 3: of the things that I'm curious as I hear you

798
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:16,120
Speaker 3: talk about this is how will people respond because we

799
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:20,680
Speaker 3: still live in a very much individualistic society, right you

800
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 3: just describe You're saying, it's me, mine and no more.

801
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:28,400
Speaker 1: You know, right, everything's nimby and it's a great idea

802
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:29,200
Speaker 1: except not for me.

803
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 3: It's a great idea until it reaches your backyard or

804
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,239
Speaker 3: your front yard, or your parts a porch, or is

805
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:39,359
Speaker 3: knocking at your door. And so, you know, to be honest,

806
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:46,160
Speaker 3: I don't know. And I'm saying that only because man,

807
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 3: people get up in arms if you, you know, ask

808
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,799
Speaker 3: to get over in traffic, you know, And now you're

809
00:49:53,840 --> 00:50:01,120
Speaker 3: talking about I know, right, it's a very complex question answer. However,

810
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 3: I do believe in the stakeholder approach to decision making right.

811
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,760
Speaker 3: How do we get together local business owners, local doctors,

812
00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:16,759
Speaker 3: local nts, local educators, people who may find themselves, you know,

813
00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:21,520
Speaker 3: vulnerable people who are without resources and create sort of

814
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:26,439
Speaker 3: like a round table of solution sharing right where there

815
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:29,720
Speaker 3: can be ideas that actually emerge from the community versus

816
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:34,759
Speaker 3: a top down approach. I think we've seen the top

817
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:39,799
Speaker 3: down approach harm people in many ways, and so I'm

818
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 3: open to all types of stakeholder approaches, which is one of,

819
00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:45,759
Speaker 3: you know, one of the ways we do the work

820
00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:47,040
Speaker 3: that we do in our community.

821
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:51,839
Speaker 1: Talk about your foundation, because this is where you're trying

822
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,840
Speaker 1: to work with I think some at risk families and

823
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how what have you learned there

824
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:04,759
Speaker 1: that that if you could have more money, you would scale.

825
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:12,719
Speaker 3: I I get really emotional about this one because I

826
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:16,439
Speaker 3: want to acknowledge my privilege and where I am now. Right,

827
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,319
Speaker 3: I was able to complete a PhD less than one

828
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:27,360
Speaker 3: percent of the population. I've been able to speak to

829
00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:31,839
Speaker 3: author books, all of those things. But I also think

830
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:35,360
Speaker 3: about my journey. I think about the times I would

831
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,440
Speaker 3: sleep in my car. I remember one time I was

832
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:42,319
Speaker 3: getting dressed out of two garbage bags going to high

833
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:46,319
Speaker 3: school and I had dropped out. I decided to go back.

834
00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,919
Speaker 3: My mom fought really hard for me to go back

835
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,600
Speaker 3: to high school. I was a fifth year senior, the

836
00:51:52,680 --> 00:51:56,239
Speaker 3: proper terminus, fifth year per sister. I remember the educators

837
00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:58,600
Speaker 3: looking at me, labeling me, uy, is he still here?

838
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:03,040
Speaker 3: I remember the you know, the meanness of my peers.

839
00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:05,360
Speaker 1: But also be just the opposite, like, wow, you have

840
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:09,280
Speaker 1: the You're willing to keep coming and stick this out

841
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,080
Speaker 1: like the teachers should have been. You should have been

842
00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:13,640
Speaker 1: a role model. Yeah.

843
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:18,520
Speaker 3: And I had this one teacher, Miss West, who pulled

844
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 3: me aside and she says, I want you to use

845
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 3: my classroom as a sanctuary. I'm a fifth year senior

846
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,719
Speaker 3: in a tenth grade geometry class. She was the first

847
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:31,120
Speaker 3: person to call me brilliant and say I want to

848
00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 3: help to cultivate your brilliant. I graduated largely because of

849
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:41,680
Speaker 3: Miss West. The days when I didn't know how I

850
00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:44,640
Speaker 3: was going to eat lunch, or I didn't know if

851
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:47,600
Speaker 3: I would have enough hope or you know, courage to

852
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:50,600
Speaker 3: continue forward, she pulled me aside. I mean, I think

853
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:54,280
Speaker 3: that is synonymous with the work that I'm largely doing

854
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:58,040
Speaker 3: working with the organization loveyond walls. I get a chance

855
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:01,560
Speaker 3: to serve in for those floor on house. You know,

856
00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:04,920
Speaker 3: what does it mean to ensure that someone has access

857
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:09,400
Speaker 3: to their identification cards because you need ID to open

858
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:12,080
Speaker 3: a bank account, to get housing, to work a job,

859
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:16,040
Speaker 3: to validate who you are. What does it mean to

860
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:19,319
Speaker 3: build resource centers within the context of a school where

861
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,440
Speaker 3: if a family is unhoused and they're living in a

862
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,279
Speaker 3: motel or shelter or even their car, and they don't

863
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:28,760
Speaker 3: have access to watch their children's clothes can come into

864
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 3: this center and those resources are there so their child

865
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,320
Speaker 3: doesn't have to walk into a classroom and get bullied

866
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:39,600
Speaker 3: and disconnect from their lesson for a You know, when

867
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:43,680
Speaker 3: I think about community work, I'm thinking about all of

868
00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:48,560
Speaker 3: the collaborators and stakeholders in our community that actually comes

869
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:52,319
Speaker 3: together to make sure that those who are leased in

870
00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:55,640
Speaker 3: the community have the resources that they need, whether that's

871
00:53:55,719 --> 00:54:00,719
Speaker 3: exposure to mentorship, whether that's exposure to showers. We just

872
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:05,280
Speaker 3: had a clothing store, a suit store be Spokenture. Actually

873
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:08,520
Speaker 3: it's a suit store that does Taylor Made suits in

874
00:54:08,600 --> 00:54:13,280
Speaker 3: the district of Hateville, Georgia. Right, it's a thriving community,

875
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:17,319
Speaker 3: porcious land at their headquarters there. This owner came to

876
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,279
Speaker 3: our center right in college part because he knows that

877
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:25,040
Speaker 3: we work with men and younger men who are unhoused,

878
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:28,840
Speaker 3: and he donates all of these suits. Why because he

879
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:36,440
Speaker 3: understands the connection between appearance and job interviews and work readiness.

880
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:42,759
Speaker 3: We have another volunteer who does carpentry. Right, he decided

881
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 3: to come and volunteer and show our community members how

882
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:50,480
Speaker 3: to learn some of these carpentry skills. Right, So it's

883
00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:52,920
Speaker 3: soft skills and heart skills.

884
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:52,799
Speaker 1: You know.

885
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:57,880
Speaker 3: We have volunteers who help people research and identify, you know,

886
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:01,399
Speaker 3: how to recover their documents. We have a food co op,

887
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:05,600
Speaker 3: not only where people are coming to receive food, but

888
00:55:05,719 --> 00:55:10,840
Speaker 3: community members are volunteering for other community members. Right. We

889
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:15,200
Speaker 3: have a groundswell of community that says, hey, we see

890
00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:18,719
Speaker 3: a need. We can't just exclude the need from our community.

891
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,279
Speaker 3: We need to focus in on how we can all

892
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,360
Speaker 3: show up and best support our community. Because it's my

893
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:27,960
Speaker 3: it's my you know, just my hope and it's my

894
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:30,200
Speaker 3: idea and it's even my ethic when I show up

895
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:33,920
Speaker 3: to serve or volunteer within the context of organization, is

896
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:35,840
Speaker 3: that we have to be about the whole community.

897
00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:38,800
Speaker 1: The way for is together, not separate.

898
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:43,799
Speaker 3: Right, When I do something for my neighbor, right, or

899
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 3: someone who may not have as much as I have,

900
00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:49,520
Speaker 3: I'm actually doing it for myself because when I invest

901
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:53,800
Speaker 3: in someone who is proximate proximate to me, I'm actually

902
00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:56,840
Speaker 3: building somebody else up in the context.

903
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:59,160
Speaker 1: Of my community to make my community better. Which is

904
00:55:59,160 --> 00:56:11,279
Speaker 1: what I hear you saying. Let me ask you this

905
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:18,720
Speaker 1: about you know, this debate about the homelessness crisis, which

906
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:23,359
Speaker 1: is I think that there's there's no one answer to

907
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:27,839
Speaker 1: this issue, right, affordable housing is not is certainly some

908
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:31,560
Speaker 1: of the problem. Push back, Well, that's what I'm call

909
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:33,200
Speaker 1: That's what I want you to because I think that

910
00:56:33,280 --> 00:56:35,239
Speaker 1: this is the exact That's where I was leading my

911
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:41,000
Speaker 1: question to. I think we often, I think public policy

912
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:46,759
Speaker 1: makers don't spend enough time thinking about the why when

913
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:49,760
Speaker 1: it comes to homelessness or on that being under housed.

914
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:54,040
Speaker 1: And I guess I would say, is what you know

915
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:58,440
Speaker 1: help these politicians? How would you advise them to be

916
00:56:58,560 --> 00:57:01,839
Speaker 1: talking about this issue better and then solving and then

917
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:05,640
Speaker 1: helping to find solutions. And is there a government solution

918
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:13,120
Speaker 1: or is it more organizations like yours? Yeah, great, great question. One.

919
00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:17,600
Speaker 3: I did my dissertation on the history of homelessness in

920
00:57:17,600 --> 00:57:21,600
Speaker 3: this country. If you don't know to homelessness eras which

921
00:57:21,680 --> 00:57:24,960
Speaker 3: I believe that we're heading into a third mass homelessness era.

922
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,840
Speaker 3: Firtht happened during a great depression. Second happened in the

923
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:35,720
Speaker 3: nineteen eighties, which we see mass contemporarily contemporary chronic homelessness.

924
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:36,000
Speaker 1: Right.

925
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:40,800
Speaker 3: This third era that you bring about is the era

926
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:42,720
Speaker 3: of unaffordability.

927
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:44,160
Speaker 1: I can't afford right.

928
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:49,520
Speaker 3: Last year, nationally, we see an increase in homelessness, right

929
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:52,200
Speaker 3: in terms of the senses the data that actually came

930
00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:53,160
Speaker 3: out of.

931
00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: A growth of eighteen percent.

932
00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:58,480
Speaker 3: And I don't know if you know how they actually

933
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:00,600
Speaker 3: collect a census for those who are in.

934
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:02,600
Speaker 1: House, because I did. That's why I'm curious.

935
00:58:03,600 --> 00:58:06,960
Speaker 3: We don't get you know, they don't get a postcard

936
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:09,120
Speaker 3: in the mail. Feel this out return right.

937
00:58:09,600 --> 00:58:09,720
Speaker 1: Uh.

938
00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:13,120
Speaker 3: They're volunteers that nationally actually go out and have to

939
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:17,120
Speaker 3: physically count like hand, like I I count, like I

940
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 3: see you, I'm counting you, I'm checking you off on

941
00:58:19,640 --> 00:58:22,120
Speaker 3: the list. That's how they get the census for how

942
00:58:22,160 --> 00:58:26,520
Speaker 3: many people they suspect we're unhoused. Where that number is

943
00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 3: is drastically more than what is reported nationally only because

944
00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:34,200
Speaker 3: if you're out of sight, you're out of mind, and

945
00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:34,959
Speaker 3: you're out of.

946
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:38,160
Speaker 1: The count, right, and so we see that growing.

947
00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:43,280
Speaker 3: Second, I do think we need more empathy as as

948
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:52,400
Speaker 3: it relates to creating supports for those who are in housed.

949
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:53,240
Speaker 1: Let me tell you why.

950
00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:56,560
Speaker 3: I did my entire dissertation on the state of Tennessee,

951
00:58:56,600 --> 00:59:00,440
Speaker 3: which was the first state that made homeless business or

952
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:03,720
Speaker 3: sleeping outside a class E felony. Now, we had started

953
00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:07,800
Speaker 3: to see ordinances and laws kind of rise over the

954
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,600
Speaker 3: last four years. You know, you can't stand there, you

955
00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:14,680
Speaker 3: can't sit there, you can't food share here, you can't

956
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:16,960
Speaker 3: sleep in a car like in the state of Colorado.

957
00:59:17,080 --> 00:59:19,680
Speaker 3: You'll get a ticket, right, or you can't be in

958
00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:24,200
Speaker 3: this certain part of the town. But when Tennessee actually

959
00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:28,440
Speaker 3: felonized it right class E felony, it opened up the

960
00:59:28,480 --> 00:59:31,400
Speaker 3: floodgates for all these other cities, and now we have

961
00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:34,240
Speaker 3: over two hundred. We saw the Supreme Court actually make

962
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:39,320
Speaker 3: a decision last year ruling in a case first homelessness

963
00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:43,440
Speaker 3: case in the last four years, Grant Pass versus Johnson,

964
00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:49,479
Speaker 3: to say it was constitutional to punish, to lock those

965
00:59:49,480 --> 00:59:52,880
Speaker 3: who are un housed up if they are found sleeping outside,

966
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,040
Speaker 3: even if they have nowhere to go.

967
00:59:55,520 --> 00:59:57,280
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the Bill of Rights. I haven't found

968
00:59:57,320 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 1: anywhere where that's constitutional. But I'll cook.

969
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 3: But no, no, it's an astonishing ru Yeah, exactly, it is.

970
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:07,360
Speaker 1: What are you kidding me? I mean I thought this

971
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:09,640
Speaker 1: was a free country, right Exactly.

972
01:00:09,200 --> 01:00:11,520
Speaker 3: If you have nowhere to go, you have no towhere

973
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:14,760
Speaker 3: to go. The DJ actually releases a brief I think

974
01:00:14,760 --> 01:00:17,200
Speaker 3: it was twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, says that it's a

975
01:00:17,280 --> 01:00:21,760
Speaker 3: violation of the Eighth Amendment rights if you actually punish

976
01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:26,000
Speaker 3: someone or have you know, extra force on someone who

977
01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:29,160
Speaker 3: is trying to practice life sustaining activities if they have

978
01:00:29,440 --> 01:00:33,360
Speaker 3: nowhere to go. So my answer is twofold one. I

979
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:36,560
Speaker 3: think we need to reframe how we think about homelessness.

980
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:42,360
Speaker 3: Homelessness is not monolithic, and everybody who arrives at the

981
01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:46,320
Speaker 3: fight has not arrived there from the same set of circumstances.

982
01:00:46,400 --> 01:00:49,440
Speaker 3: There are mothers who are fleeing domestic violence. There are

983
01:00:49,480 --> 01:00:52,360
Speaker 3: families who lost the loved one. There are people who

984
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:55,160
Speaker 3: got laid off. There was a you know, a community

985
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:59,200
Speaker 3: of people who became disabled or had a illness. In

986
01:00:59,240 --> 01:01:01,600
Speaker 3: two thousand twenty two, I was in a near fatal

987
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:04,640
Speaker 3: car accident. I couldn't walk. I was confined to a

988
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:06,440
Speaker 3: bed for almost four or five months. I had to

989
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:08,960
Speaker 3: learn how to walk again after being hit by a car,

990
01:01:09,400 --> 01:01:11,520
Speaker 3: and my wife did not have insurance.

991
01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:16,040
Speaker 1: Right, I could have been among the number.

992
01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:19,760
Speaker 3: And I think the reality is that many people don't

993
01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:23,800
Speaker 3: even think about how all of half of America, right,

994
01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:30,680
Speaker 3: is our one paycheck away from the experience of homelessness itself.

995
01:01:30,720 --> 01:01:34,880
Speaker 3: And sometimes people only relegate the experience of homelessness to

996
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:39,440
Speaker 3: two narratives. Right, there's a mental health condition, which we

997
01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:42,720
Speaker 3: can get into that. But the mental health system itself

998
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:43,560
Speaker 3: is overwhelmed.

999
01:01:43,560 --> 01:01:47,480
Speaker 1: It's not enough. Einitionis for even those who are housed,

1000
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:51,480
Speaker 1: let along providing extra support for those without an address.

1001
01:01:51,800 --> 01:01:55,680
Speaker 3: And then there is the you know, moral failure, Right,

1002
01:01:56,720 --> 01:01:58,640
Speaker 3: there's something wrong with your character.

1003
01:01:58,320 --> 01:02:01,440
Speaker 1: You're lazy, you know this sort of rhetoric. Well, i'll

1004
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:04,240
Speaker 1: give you one other that you hear. Well, some people

1005
01:02:04,240 --> 01:02:07,760
Speaker 1: want to be homeless, right right, right, You're like really

1006
01:02:08,520 --> 01:02:11,400
Speaker 1: I don't know, all right, Like, go go find me

1007
01:02:11,480 --> 01:02:12,240
Speaker 1: that person, But go.

1008
01:02:12,160 --> 01:02:15,960
Speaker 3: Ahead, nobody ever woke up and said I want to

1009
01:02:16,480 --> 01:02:17,120
Speaker 3: sign me up.

1010
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:18,080
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.

1011
01:02:18,120 --> 01:02:20,800
Speaker 3: Nobody said sign me up. You know, that's the experience

1012
01:02:20,840 --> 01:02:22,880
Speaker 3: that I want for the rest of my life. And

1013
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:27,320
Speaker 3: then two, I just think it takes all of us.

1014
01:02:28,120 --> 01:02:31,440
Speaker 3: And I think it takes government. I think it takes organizations.

1015
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:34,000
Speaker 3: I think it takes people who are not even connected

1016
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:37,360
Speaker 3: to organizations. I think it takes business owners. I was

1017
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:42,720
Speaker 3: doing a research project is observational research, and my whole

1018
01:02:42,720 --> 01:02:46,680
Speaker 3: goal for this project was to go in a place

1019
01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:48,160
Speaker 3: and just observe.

1020
01:02:47,880 --> 01:02:51,480
Speaker 1: How people treat those who appear to be unhoused.

1021
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:53,800
Speaker 3: Right, I want to set at a coffee shop local

1022
01:02:53,840 --> 01:02:58,240
Speaker 3: to college, part not too far away from our organization.

1023
01:02:58,640 --> 01:03:00,840
Speaker 1: I just set out there time and time again.

1024
01:03:01,040 --> 01:03:04,320
Speaker 3: People who were close to Atlanta Airport going to catch flights,

1025
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:08,080
Speaker 3: standing outside with their suitcases, briefcases, using Wi Fi on

1026
01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:12,760
Speaker 3: the phone, you know, ordering coffee, chit chatting. Neighbors in

1027
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:16,640
Speaker 3: the community who were on housed came to stand outside,

1028
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:19,360
Speaker 3: maybe to use the Wi Fi to look up for

1029
01:03:19,760 --> 01:03:22,880
Speaker 3: a job, you know, or to find research. Where where's

1030
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,120
Speaker 3: the next best place to stay tonight, you know, et cetera.

1031
01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:32,040
Speaker 3: The workers in this coffee shop came outside, called the police. Right,

1032
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:36,800
Speaker 3: the police shows up. You know, Pu's just the personal way.

1033
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,360
Speaker 3: I wrote up this whole paper paper. I took it

1034
01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:42,360
Speaker 3: back and I gave it to the owner. I said,

1035
01:03:42,480 --> 01:03:45,800
Speaker 3: this is what I observed happening here. Where's the empathy?

1036
01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:46,200
Speaker 1: Right?

1037
01:03:47,120 --> 01:03:49,440
Speaker 3: I was latering, I was on the Wi Fi. I

1038
01:03:49,480 --> 01:03:52,440
Speaker 3: didn't even buy coffee, you know, went through all this

1039
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:55,840
Speaker 3: list of things. You know what this owner did, He

1040
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,680
Speaker 3: brought me back in to do an empathy training, No kidding, Yes,

1041
01:04:00,280 --> 01:04:03,280
Speaker 3: how do we best service those who are on How.

1042
01:04:03,240 --> 01:04:05,760
Speaker 1: This is a reminder that you know, next thing, you know,

1043
01:04:05,920 --> 01:04:10,640
Speaker 1: you tell people, Yeah, if you tell people, if you

1044
01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:13,640
Speaker 1: explain to them the situation. I mean, this is where

1045
01:04:13,640 --> 01:04:16,400
Speaker 1: I always have optimism. I'm like human beings, you know,

1046
01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:21,440
Speaker 1: we have people may suck, but human beings individually are great,

1047
01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:24,760
Speaker 1: right like you know they you know that's always the joke. Yeah,

1048
01:04:24,960 --> 01:04:30,360
Speaker 1: collectively we're terrible. Individually we're fantastic. And you just identified

1049
01:04:30,360 --> 01:04:33,920
Speaker 1: a moment where a little bit of education about something,

1050
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:36,919
Speaker 1: a little bit of education goes a long way.

1051
01:04:37,360 --> 01:04:41,960
Speaker 3: And education is the pathway to empathy, or it should

1052
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,880
Speaker 3: be if you have an open heart and you're willing

1053
01:04:44,960 --> 01:04:50,400
Speaker 3: to learn, right, we learn to become better, and what

1054
01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:55,640
Speaker 3: better way to become better than by showing compassion to

1055
01:04:55,760 --> 01:04:59,160
Speaker 3: someone else in your surroundings. And it just does not

1056
01:04:59,320 --> 01:05:02,360
Speaker 3: have to be a I mean, this is this. I mean,

1057
01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:05,240
Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be someone who is unhoused.

1058
01:05:04,760 --> 01:05:07,760
Speaker 1: Without an address. It can just be a normal person.

1059
01:05:07,880 --> 01:05:11,440
Speaker 3: And I think we have become so polarized that we

1060
01:05:11,520 --> 01:05:13,840
Speaker 3: make decisions without being proximate to people.

1061
01:05:13,880 --> 01:05:15,360
Speaker 1: That's politically right right.

1062
01:05:15,800 --> 01:05:20,680
Speaker 3: Socially, we make decisions based on second and third hand information,

1063
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:24,840
Speaker 3: not actually being proximate to the stories that actually matter.

1064
01:05:25,680 --> 01:05:29,400
Speaker 3: We make decisions even about education without actually going to

1065
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:32,800
Speaker 3: visit the school, that a policy.

1066
01:05:32,480 --> 01:05:34,720
Speaker 1: Or the way that you speak about something.

1067
01:05:34,400 --> 01:05:37,439
Speaker 3: May cause harm or damage to a student that you've

1068
01:05:37,440 --> 01:05:40,960
Speaker 3: never even met. And I think the enemy of belonging,

1069
01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:44,320
Speaker 3: the enemy of community itself, is distance.

1070
01:05:44,880 --> 01:05:49,480
Speaker 1: And that's what you're saying. Yeah, you're also a pastor

1071
01:05:50,960 --> 01:05:56,480
Speaker 1: and the role of faith. I'm hot and cold on

1072
01:05:56,560 --> 01:06:02,560
Speaker 1: faith personally, Okay, that's that. I you know, it's more

1073
01:06:02,600 --> 01:06:08,880
Speaker 1: of a well, I mean, I as as someone who's Jewish,

1074
01:06:09,200 --> 01:06:13,920
Speaker 1: it's hard to accept, you know, And this is with

1075
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:17,400
Speaker 1: a lot of Jews it's hard to accept the experience

1076
01:06:17,440 --> 01:06:22,440
Speaker 1: of the Holocaust and believe in God sometimes. Yeah, And frankly,

1077
01:06:22,480 --> 01:06:25,560
Speaker 1: it's a question I've always had to African Americans, which is,

1078
01:06:27,520 --> 01:06:32,680
Speaker 1: how do you have so much faith? Given how poorly

1079
01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:39,120
Speaker 1: American society treated African Americans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Right,

1080
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:41,640
Speaker 1: it's sort of the same, so I go. And yet

1081
01:06:42,400 --> 01:06:49,200
Speaker 1: faith communities are so important to sort of frankly thawing

1082
01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:55,920
Speaker 1: out some relationships and to teach empathy. So I'm always

1083
01:06:55,920 --> 01:06:59,640
Speaker 1: of this mixed relationship just on my personal and that's

1084
01:06:59,680 --> 01:07:03,560
Speaker 1: my own personal journey, and at the same time the

1085
01:07:03,600 --> 01:07:08,720
Speaker 1: importance of faith communities in frankly keeping community. Right, I

1086
01:07:08,720 --> 01:07:10,960
Speaker 1: think one of our biggest breakdowns in society is the

1087
01:07:10,960 --> 01:07:13,800
Speaker 1: loss of community. We've been talking about it here. Some

1088
01:07:13,840 --> 01:07:15,320
Speaker 1: of this has to do, you know. I think about

1089
01:07:15,360 --> 01:07:17,040
Speaker 1: it just in the space that I live in, which

1090
01:07:17,080 --> 01:07:19,160
Speaker 1: is the media. You know, I think the biggest problem

1091
01:07:19,160 --> 01:07:21,600
Speaker 1: with trust and media is we lost local news. Right.

1092
01:07:21,640 --> 01:07:24,960
Speaker 1: When we had local news, local journalists they were they

1093
01:07:24,960 --> 01:07:27,200
Speaker 1: were the nast they were the character references for national

1094
01:07:27,280 --> 01:07:31,680
Speaker 1: journalists because local journalists at their best are service oriented

1095
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:36,720
Speaker 1: and they're the empathy they're the community's voice to ask

1096
01:07:36,800 --> 01:07:40,080
Speaker 1: for empathy. They're the ones that are there identifying, you know,

1097
01:07:40,760 --> 01:07:43,360
Speaker 1: issues on the ground, right exactly. And then when we

1098
01:07:43,440 --> 01:07:47,080
Speaker 1: gutted it, okay, when we and we did, it turned

1099
01:07:47,080 --> 01:07:49,840
Speaker 1: out to be like that piece of that one piece

1100
01:07:49,840 --> 01:07:52,240
Speaker 1: in Jenga, we pulled the wrong thing in the in

1101
01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:56,120
Speaker 1: the entire information ecosystem collapsed and we lost. We don't

1102
01:07:56,160 --> 01:08:01,280
Speaker 1: have community. You know that that newspaper that they provided

1103
01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:05,040
Speaker 1: a community, and so without it, it's faith leaders that

1104
01:08:05,120 --> 01:08:10,320
Speaker 1: are the last bastion of local community. Wow. So I

1105
01:08:11,720 --> 01:08:14,320
Speaker 1: how you know that? I think that is? So that's

1106
01:08:14,320 --> 01:08:17,040
Speaker 1: where I you know, I'm probably giving too much here,

1107
01:08:17,320 --> 01:08:20,439
Speaker 1: but that's why I go. I understand the need for it,

1108
01:08:20,479 --> 01:08:23,960
Speaker 1: and at the same time I understand why personally for

1109
01:08:24,000 --> 01:08:26,759
Speaker 1: some people it's you know, faith is it? But that's

1110
01:08:26,800 --> 01:08:29,160
Speaker 1: there's your personal relationship on faith, and then there's the

1111
01:08:29,200 --> 01:08:34,880
Speaker 1: collective nature of community that that faith leaders bring. Yeah, man,

1112
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:41,000
Speaker 1: I want to say that I join you in that.

1113
01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:46,120
Speaker 1: You know, theodicy is is one of those.

1114
01:08:47,479 --> 01:08:52,640
Speaker 3: Types of russles that you have, even in the context

1115
01:08:52,640 --> 01:08:54,679
Speaker 3: of saying that you claim a faith or.

1116
01:08:54,560 --> 01:08:55,320
Speaker 1: You have faith.

1117
01:08:55,560 --> 01:08:59,160
Speaker 3: Uh, there are always questions that just boggles them on

1118
01:08:59,240 --> 01:09:02,280
Speaker 3: to the point whereas like, but this happened, but this,

1119
01:09:03,439 --> 01:09:03,880
Speaker 3: you know, you.

1120
01:09:03,800 --> 01:09:07,200
Speaker 1: Can totally unexplainable. Well, they are right, unexplainable if you

1121
01:09:07,320 --> 01:09:10,639
Speaker 1: believe in the higher power. Exactly explainable if you don't

1122
01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:12,320
Speaker 1: exactly exactly.

1123
01:09:12,479 --> 01:09:16,160
Speaker 3: And when you think about natural evil versus general evil,

1124
01:09:16,439 --> 01:09:21,160
Speaker 3: I mean you can get into oh what I see

1125
01:09:21,200 --> 01:09:24,120
Speaker 3: faith doing in the context of how I show up

1126
01:09:24,120 --> 01:09:29,400
Speaker 3: because I don't consider myself a traditional faith leader. You know,

1127
01:09:29,560 --> 01:09:32,960
Speaker 3: most faith leaders are standing in a full pit or

1128
01:09:33,120 --> 01:09:37,200
Speaker 3: some type of synagogue on a certain morning that they

1129
01:09:37,240 --> 01:09:42,639
Speaker 3: claim a sacred and they're communicating. My faith journey has

1130
01:09:42,720 --> 01:09:47,759
Speaker 3: led me into what I would consider you know, parts

1131
01:09:47,920 --> 01:09:52,679
Speaker 3: of the community that are left isolated. You know, I'm

1132
01:09:53,040 --> 01:09:56,719
Speaker 3: you know, engaged with the person who may have gotten

1133
01:09:56,760 --> 01:10:00,160
Speaker 3: their meal out of a trash can, or some one

1134
01:10:00,160 --> 01:10:02,760
Speaker 3: who was put out of a public space because they

1135
01:10:02,840 --> 01:10:05,120
Speaker 3: asked to wash their hands or use the restroom.

1136
01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:07,639
Speaker 1: Community members who come.

1137
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:11,759
Speaker 3: To us for food resources because they have more months

1138
01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:15,280
Speaker 3: at the end of their money, you know. And I

1139
01:10:15,360 --> 01:10:20,120
Speaker 3: get a chance to see faith working and operating when

1140
01:10:20,160 --> 01:10:24,760
Speaker 3: people come together. And I do think faith, for you know,

1141
01:10:25,320 --> 01:10:28,639
Speaker 3: certain communities has been a tool for survival. You know,

1142
01:10:29,160 --> 01:10:31,800
Speaker 3: it's a refuge when people get a chance to come

1143
01:10:31,880 --> 01:10:36,120
Speaker 3: together and have a collective faith to say we will

1144
01:10:36,840 --> 01:10:38,040
Speaker 3: survive this together.

1145
01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:40,840
Speaker 1: Right, There's it sounds like your faith is in humanity

1146
01:10:41,200 --> 01:10:45,320
Speaker 1: more than it is anything else. Yeah, it is.

1147
01:10:45,560 --> 01:10:48,599
Speaker 3: It is in the divine, but it is also in

1148
01:10:48,680 --> 01:10:50,720
Speaker 3: the power of how the divine shows.

1149
01:10:50,479 --> 01:10:53,400
Speaker 1: Up in the gathering of people. Right.

1150
01:10:54,160 --> 01:10:58,599
Speaker 3: Faith as a form of resistance, faith as a vision

1151
01:10:58,680 --> 01:10:59,759
Speaker 3: for a different world.

1152
01:11:00,360 --> 01:11:02,400
Speaker 1: Faith can do a measurable things.

1153
01:11:02,479 --> 01:11:07,160
Speaker 3: I mean, right now we are using technology and products

1154
01:11:07,160 --> 01:11:09,720
Speaker 3: and all of these things as a result of someone's

1155
01:11:09,760 --> 01:11:13,320
Speaker 3: faith and initiative to create these resources and tools so

1156
01:11:13,400 --> 01:11:16,599
Speaker 3: people can hear us. And so I still do believe

1157
01:11:16,640 --> 01:11:19,080
Speaker 3: that there's good when people come together, and I think

1158
01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:20,439
Speaker 3: faith is at the center of it.

1159
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:26,519
Speaker 1: I think about what you're trying to do and what

1160
01:11:26,520 --> 01:11:28,719
Speaker 1: you're trying to accomplish, and the message you're trying to send.

1161
01:11:28,720 --> 01:11:31,559
Speaker 1: And here we have one of the when you think

1162
01:11:31,560 --> 01:11:34,439
Speaker 1: about the resources that you didn't have when you were

1163
01:11:34,479 --> 01:11:41,759
Speaker 1: in school, you know, the dismantling of the Department of Education. Yeah,

1164
01:11:41,800 --> 01:11:44,280
Speaker 1: how much strain is that putting on your nonprofit? How

1165
01:11:44,320 --> 01:11:46,720
Speaker 1: much strain is that putting on the nonprofits and the law,

1166
01:11:46,800 --> 01:11:49,760
Speaker 1: you know, because you know, there was still not enough

1167
01:11:49,800 --> 01:11:53,120
Speaker 1: resources that the FEDS were providing. And what people don't

1168
01:11:53,200 --> 01:11:56,479
Speaker 1: understand in public school systems, the Department of Education is

1169
01:11:56,720 --> 01:12:01,080
Speaker 1: essentially there to help schools that have especial needs students

1170
01:12:01,160 --> 01:12:04,479
Speaker 1: or schools that have you know, it's not about the

1171
01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:09,080
Speaker 1: regular parts of public education. It's about the special necessity

1172
01:12:09,160 --> 01:12:12,880
Speaker 1: part of public education. Helping give access to public education

1173
01:12:13,200 --> 01:12:16,240
Speaker 1: to kids who have maybe have disabilities or maybe need

1174
01:12:16,720 --> 01:12:18,960
Speaker 1: extra work. And now we're going to cut all this funding.

1175
01:12:19,000 --> 01:12:21,080
Speaker 1: It's going to get shoved as a block brand in

1176
01:12:21,080 --> 01:12:24,960
Speaker 1: some form or another. The challenges that's present, that's going

1177
01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:28,599
Speaker 1: to present your organization, the challenges that presents the community

1178
01:12:28,600 --> 01:12:29,080
Speaker 1: as a whole.

1179
01:12:29,920 --> 01:12:34,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think a lot about McKenny Vento,

1180
01:12:35,040 --> 01:12:40,759
Speaker 3: which again was the first federal policy that actually named

1181
01:12:40,960 --> 01:12:44,439
Speaker 3: holmless sins as a national crisis. It was passed in

1182
01:12:44,520 --> 01:12:50,360
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty seven, that was later rolled up under the

1183
01:12:50,439 --> 01:12:54,880
Speaker 3: Department of Education. And so McKenny Vento is, you know,

1184
01:12:55,120 --> 01:12:59,120
Speaker 3: it ensures that and how students have access to you know,

1185
01:12:59,240 --> 01:13:02,800
Speaker 3: take their ammunisation or have access to school even if

1186
01:13:02,800 --> 01:13:07,000
Speaker 3: they can't provide an address, have access to meals, have

1187
01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:10,599
Speaker 3: access to supports, you know, outside of the normal hours

1188
01:13:10,600 --> 01:13:13,920
Speaker 3: of education, whether that be an after school program, etc.

1189
01:13:14,880 --> 01:13:17,920
Speaker 1: And I am worried that there's one thing to have

1190
01:13:18,000 --> 01:13:20,519
Speaker 1: legal access to those things, but yeah, how do you

1191
01:13:20,600 --> 01:13:23,679
Speaker 1: practically have access to it? Yeah, well that's the thing.

1192
01:13:23,880 --> 01:13:28,200
Speaker 3: Implementation is huge, right, and when you know funding shifts

1193
01:13:28,240 --> 01:13:33,640
Speaker 3: and cuts, right, you don't have the sort of faculty

1194
01:13:33,760 --> 01:13:37,679
Speaker 3: or staff power to ensure that some of those things

1195
01:13:37,680 --> 01:13:41,960
Speaker 3: are actually implemented on the ground level, which actually in

1196
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:47,639
Speaker 3: turns harms students. I would say that many nonprofits probably

1197
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:52,679
Speaker 3: will be impacted as well as ours, because people see

1198
01:13:52,720 --> 01:13:55,519
Speaker 3: themselves as being more self preserving. So you don't have

1199
01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:58,800
Speaker 3: a lot of people giving to nonprofit organizations. Maybe they

1200
01:13:58,800 --> 01:14:03,679
Speaker 3: give volunteer time is a great alternative, right, But then

1201
01:14:04,479 --> 01:14:08,680
Speaker 3: you know there organizations who were really funded, Like we

1202
01:14:08,800 --> 01:14:12,760
Speaker 3: have colleagues who had after school programs where you know

1203
01:14:12,880 --> 01:14:16,240
Speaker 3: for months there uh, you know, their grant dollars who

1204
01:14:16,240 --> 01:14:19,560
Speaker 3: are held up and they weren't able to service students,

1205
01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:24,640
Speaker 3: right who actually needed them the support or we have

1206
01:14:25,080 --> 01:14:29,200
Speaker 3: we're starting to see educators saying that the school system

1207
01:14:29,600 --> 01:14:32,280
Speaker 3: did away with their role, right, and they're going to

1208
01:14:32,360 --> 01:14:35,679
Speaker 3: have to reshuffle the cars, and educators are now having

1209
01:14:35,680 --> 01:14:39,160
Speaker 3: to commute to another part of town, maybe an hour away,

1210
01:14:39,840 --> 01:14:43,360
Speaker 3: to show up and provide support for maybe a student

1211
01:14:43,439 --> 01:14:46,720
Speaker 3: population who doesn't really need the resources, right, And so

1212
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:49,720
Speaker 3: you're you're starting to see a lot of that that's shuffling.

1213
01:14:50,400 --> 01:14:52,840
Speaker 1: But I still have hope. And here's why.

1214
01:14:53,360 --> 01:14:57,680
Speaker 3: Because our organization has always been what I describe a

1215
01:14:57,720 --> 01:15:02,640
Speaker 3: movement of doers. We've always been volunteer driven, We've been

1216
01:15:02,680 --> 01:15:07,000
Speaker 3: supported by the community. We're pretty stable, and we are

1217
01:15:07,080 --> 01:15:11,479
Speaker 3: dreaming of new ways to show up and support those

1218
01:15:11,520 --> 01:15:15,680
Speaker 3: who will be least likely to have access to those resources.

1219
01:15:15,680 --> 01:15:18,240
Speaker 1: And So while there's the school system in Atlanta work

1220
01:15:18,280 --> 01:15:20,200
Speaker 1: with you directly, do you work with the schools?

1221
01:15:20,280 --> 01:15:24,840
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I actually we're working in Title I schools.

1222
01:15:25,240 --> 01:15:28,439
Speaker 3: We launched an initiative call Science Closet. I described it

1223
01:15:28,479 --> 01:15:33,720
Speaker 3: a little earlier, which I'm really excited about, and we're.

1224
01:15:34,600 --> 01:15:38,519
Speaker 1: So is that a physical space? It's a physical is

1225
01:15:38,560 --> 01:15:41,080
Speaker 1: the idea that you want to have these spaces inside

1226
01:15:41,160 --> 01:15:43,720
Speaker 1: the school? So in Title one schools? Okay, so a

1227
01:15:43,800 --> 01:15:46,200
Speaker 1: place in the Title one schools for it's in resource

1228
01:15:46,280 --> 01:15:50,360
Speaker 1: those showering machines dryers.

1229
01:15:50,400 --> 01:15:54,200
Speaker 3: A principal like, uh, the one that we just recently launched,

1230
01:15:54,200 --> 01:15:59,439
Speaker 3: an aps F Hitch Elementary has the largest unhoused population

1231
01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:03,599
Speaker 3: of students. They gave us a classroom and we retrofitted it.

1232
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:07,320
Speaker 3: Parents can come in and wash clothes. It's all sorts

1233
01:16:07,320 --> 01:16:12,519
Speaker 3: of refrigeration there, it's access to uniforms. There's a computer

1234
01:16:12,640 --> 01:16:17,400
Speaker 3: lab where the digital Divide doesn't provide parents to actually

1235
01:16:17,439 --> 01:16:21,639
Speaker 3: fill out job applications. We partner with an Atlanta Hawks

1236
01:16:21,640 --> 01:16:25,559
Speaker 3: player actually to get this started, which is another form

1237
01:16:25,680 --> 01:16:30,760
Speaker 3: of you know, someone who's playing professional ball wants to

1238
01:16:30,760 --> 01:16:34,519
Speaker 3: be approximate to this population in a way that's really

1239
01:16:34,560 --> 01:16:37,000
Speaker 3: tangible and supported our efforts to do so.

1240
01:16:37,120 --> 01:16:40,479
Speaker 1: And that initiative has started to another school.

1241
01:16:40,560 --> 01:16:43,000
Speaker 3: We're about to launch here at the end of August,

1242
01:16:43,040 --> 01:16:45,200
Speaker 3: and then we have five waiting already.

1243
01:16:45,320 --> 01:16:48,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you feel like you're on the verge of

1244
01:16:48,800 --> 01:16:49,640
Speaker 1: scaling this and.

1245
01:16:50,120 --> 01:16:53,439
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, most definitely, because the need is growing. Yeah,

1246
01:16:53,520 --> 01:16:56,160
Speaker 3: you talk to a principle and she said, man, I

1247
01:16:56,240 --> 01:16:59,679
Speaker 3: thank you so much that you're retrofitting this classroom where

1248
01:16:59,680 --> 01:17:02,040
Speaker 3: all the the resources that we need or right here

1249
01:17:02,040 --> 01:17:05,520
Speaker 3: in the school, because you know, most times there's social.

1250
01:17:05,280 --> 01:17:07,640
Speaker 1: Work the school is community center, which I think a

1251
01:17:07,680 --> 01:17:11,640
Speaker 1: lot of people have envisioned. Yes, that that that we

1252
01:17:11,680 --> 01:17:15,280
Speaker 1: ought to lean into this, that the school is a

1253
01:17:15,280 --> 01:17:18,640
Speaker 1: twenty four hour resource, not necessarily just a seven to

1254
01:17:18,680 --> 01:17:19,760
Speaker 1: three resource.

1255
01:17:19,439 --> 01:17:25,720
Speaker 3: Right, exactly, a twenty four hour resource. Yeah, the schools, churches, synagogues.

1256
01:17:26,240 --> 01:17:29,519
Speaker 3: When you think about all of the students or those

1257
01:17:29,520 --> 01:17:33,000
Speaker 3: who are represented where the it's educators and or students

1258
01:17:33,040 --> 01:17:37,320
Speaker 3: are connected to a stream of relationships and families, and

1259
01:17:37,600 --> 01:17:40,799
Speaker 3: it extends so far, and so it is a community source.

1260
01:17:43,320 --> 01:17:46,320
Speaker 1: Terrence lest I could keep going. Us has been very

1261
01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:50,240
Speaker 1: I've loved this conversation. I've loved learning from you on this,

1262
01:17:50,400 --> 01:17:54,320
Speaker 1: and I hope folks if they want to help, they

1263
01:17:54,320 --> 01:17:56,120
Speaker 1: want to contribute. What's the best way to do it.

1264
01:17:56,880 --> 01:18:01,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, check us out love Beyonwalls dot org, click Science Closet.

1265
01:18:01,479 --> 01:18:05,320
Speaker 3: We have documentaries on there, even a documentary where I

1266
01:18:05,360 --> 01:18:08,519
Speaker 3: found myself walking from Atlanta all the way to Washington,

1267
01:18:08,600 --> 01:18:08,840
Speaker 3: d C.

1268
01:18:09,160 --> 01:18:11,719
Speaker 1: To raise the West homelessness. It took me two.

1269
01:18:11,560 --> 01:18:16,599
Speaker 3: Months and I recorded stories and talk about all of it.

1270
01:18:17,320 --> 01:18:20,240
Speaker 3: If you're in local to Atlanta, come and volunteer with us.

1271
01:18:20,320 --> 01:18:24,000
Speaker 3: We are actively engaged in community every single week it's

1272
01:18:24,040 --> 01:18:27,599
Speaker 3: not something that we just talk about online. And if

1273
01:18:27,640 --> 01:18:30,400
Speaker 3: you want to read any of the books you have children,

1274
01:18:30,600 --> 01:18:33,320
Speaker 3: I wrote a children's book on how to teach her

1275
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:37,320
Speaker 3: child how to be empathetic and compassionate towards those round house.

1276
01:18:37,520 --> 01:18:40,120
Speaker 3: I tell my story in this new book. And connect

1277
01:18:40,200 --> 01:18:43,360
Speaker 3: with me, Google, you know, connect.

1278
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:45,120
Speaker 1: You're buying you all sorts of your all right, let

1279
01:18:45,120 --> 01:18:47,320
Speaker 1: me let end on a super light note. All right,

1280
01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:51,040
Speaker 1: I grew up in Miami, you grew up in Atlanta.

1281
01:18:51,320 --> 01:18:54,519
Speaker 1: I would argue, both cities get grief for not being

1282
01:18:55,000 --> 01:18:59,160
Speaker 1: passionate sports cities, meaning that we're filled with fair We're like,

1283
01:18:59,320 --> 01:19:02,120
Speaker 1: both cities get hit with the fair weather fan hit.

1284
01:19:02,240 --> 01:19:04,599
Speaker 1: You know that we Okay, Okay, I get it and

1285
01:19:04,640 --> 01:19:06,240
Speaker 1: I know it, you know. And I would say, well,

1286
01:19:06,240 --> 01:19:08,040
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that Miami and Atlanta have so much to

1287
01:19:08,080 --> 01:19:12,160
Speaker 1: do that we only want to support winners. But what's

1288
01:19:12,200 --> 01:19:16,479
Speaker 1: the of the four teams? What's the one that when

1289
01:19:16,479 --> 01:19:20,320
Speaker 1: they're good, the city's in a better mood? Like, what's

1290
01:19:20,360 --> 01:19:24,360
Speaker 1: the team that puts the city in the birds?

1291
01:19:24,960 --> 01:19:30,160
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean you talk about attitude of the thermostatic

1292
01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:32,720
Speaker 3: attitude on the law and you walk over to it

1293
01:19:32,800 --> 01:19:34,360
Speaker 3: if the Falcons are doing well.

1294
01:19:34,479 --> 01:19:40,040
Speaker 1: I mean, people are nicer in the grocery stores than Georgia.

1295
01:19:40,200 --> 01:19:43,599
Speaker 1: Is it bigger than Georgia football or is it close?

1296
01:19:43,960 --> 01:19:49,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's It's not bigger in terms of crowd participation,

1297
01:19:50,200 --> 01:19:50,720
Speaker 3: right right.

1298
01:19:51,320 --> 01:19:53,519
Speaker 1: Football is just what it is. I know, it's what.

1299
01:19:53,439 --> 01:19:56,960
Speaker 3: You're when it comes to Atlanta making the playoffs and

1300
01:19:57,040 --> 01:20:01,360
Speaker 3: there's a possible pathway to the Super I still hate

1301
01:20:01,400 --> 01:20:05,160
Speaker 3: we lost years ago, but yeah, you know, the whole city,

1302
01:20:05,320 --> 01:20:10,240
Speaker 3: the mayor, the council members, yeah, everybody, you know, you

1303
01:20:10,280 --> 01:20:10,960
Speaker 3: make there.

1304
01:20:10,840 --> 01:20:13,200
Speaker 1: Was a it's funny you bring up the Falcons. I'm

1305
01:20:13,240 --> 01:20:15,840
Speaker 1: a I'm a New York Times Crossford puzzle geek. And

1306
01:20:16,760 --> 01:20:20,160
Speaker 1: they were a clue earlier this month. Oh it was.

1307
01:20:20,280 --> 01:20:22,120
Speaker 1: And it was not a clue you would love. Which

1308
01:20:22,160 --> 01:20:26,519
Speaker 1: is the the oldest franchise not to win a title

1309
01:20:27,080 --> 01:20:32,400
Speaker 1: of the four major sports and it was the Falcons. Yeah,

1310
01:20:32,600 --> 01:20:35,479
Speaker 1: and that's why it's a love hate relationship. Right what

1311
01:20:35,560 --> 01:20:38,479
Speaker 1: about I get it? I get it. Well, I'm all

1312
01:20:38,520 --> 01:20:39,880
Speaker 1: over the I grew up in Like I said, I

1313
01:20:39,880 --> 01:20:41,599
Speaker 1: grew up there in the heyday of the University of Miami.

1314
01:20:41,760 --> 01:20:44,479
Speaker 1: For me, Miami football is the be all end all

1315
01:20:45,200 --> 01:20:49,960
Speaker 1: so my mood, my mood, my mood changes the most

1316
01:20:50,600 --> 01:20:53,240
Speaker 1: depending on whether they win or lose. Then I'm like

1317
01:20:53,320 --> 01:20:55,400
Speaker 1: here in Washington, I'm a huge Nats fan. My son's

1318
01:20:55,400 --> 01:20:58,200
Speaker 1: a big Nats fan, so that that also impacts our mood.

1319
01:20:59,080 --> 01:21:04,160
Speaker 1: But college I am you know when look, Miami remade

1320
01:21:04,200 --> 01:21:06,160
Speaker 1: college football and I got to be there for it.

1321
01:21:06,200 --> 01:21:08,200
Speaker 1: So that's you know, and you don't. I didn't fully

1322
01:21:08,240 --> 01:21:10,360
Speaker 1: get it until you tell you don't have it anymore

1323
01:21:10,400 --> 01:21:14,040
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, man, yeah, I see you with

1324
01:21:14,080 --> 01:21:16,479
Speaker 1: the shirt on. Is that Miami shirt it is? I

1325
01:21:16,520 --> 01:21:19,479
Speaker 1: got it. My oldest is a senior, my oldest son there,

1326
01:21:19,600 --> 01:21:22,520
Speaker 1: so you know I'm also contributed.

1327
01:21:22,960 --> 01:21:23,360
Speaker 3: Literally.

1328
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:28,800
Speaker 1: Yeah. Anyway, doctor Lester, this has been a pleasure. Thank you, Chud.

1329
01:21:30,320 --> 01:21:43,160
Speaker 1: You got it well. I hope you enjoyed that conversation

1330
01:21:43,640 --> 01:21:45,720
Speaker 1: with doctor Lester. And if you want to learn more

1331
01:21:45,720 --> 01:21:47,840
Speaker 1: about him, I hope you. I hope you will do that.

1332
01:21:47,880 --> 01:21:51,040
Speaker 1: I hope you'll take a look at his memoir. It's

1333
01:21:51,080 --> 01:21:54,880
Speaker 1: a look. This is a reminder that the best way

1334
01:21:54,960 --> 01:21:58,840
Speaker 1: we can sort of heal America's political divide is to

1335
01:21:58,880 --> 01:22:02,400
Speaker 1: throw ourselves into our low communities and try to fix things.

1336
01:22:02,720 --> 01:22:06,799
Speaker 1: You know, one public school at a time, one city

1337
01:22:06,840 --> 01:22:09,000
Speaker 1: block at a time. All right, let's do a little

1338
01:22:09,040 --> 01:22:15,320
Speaker 1: last chuck as Chuck, this comes from Tom Hurr, not

1339
01:22:15,439 --> 01:22:17,960
Speaker 1: the baseball player. I appreciated that Tommy Hurr was a

1340
01:22:18,080 --> 01:22:20,960
Speaker 1: I think the second basement for the Cardinals, back when

1341
01:22:21,000 --> 01:22:24,160
Speaker 1: the Cardinals were the bane of every Dodger fans existence

1342
01:22:24,200 --> 01:22:27,559
Speaker 1: in the mid to late eighties. But I digress. Tom's

1343
01:22:27,600 --> 01:22:30,240
Speaker 1: question is Chuck, I'm loving your growing passion for political form.

1344
01:22:30,720 --> 01:22:32,559
Speaker 1: Here are two more amendments to add to your list.

1345
01:22:32,640 --> 01:22:35,040
Speaker 1: One Congress in the state shall make no law respecting

1346
01:22:35,280 --> 01:22:38,320
Speaker 1: an establishment of a political party or the free exercise thereof.

1347
01:22:38,840 --> 01:22:40,960
Speaker 1: I see where you're going to allow the federal government

1348
01:22:41,040 --> 01:22:43,400
Speaker 1: to directly tax wealth. What do you think we need

1349
01:22:43,400 --> 01:22:46,200
Speaker 1: to crack open the political duopoly sooner than later? Stay

1350
01:22:46,240 --> 01:22:48,800
Speaker 1: after them. Thanks for your great work. Look, I love

1351
01:22:48,840 --> 01:22:52,360
Speaker 1: the first one. I think the second one. First of all,

1352
01:22:52,400 --> 01:22:56,960
Speaker 1: I would argue that there isn't you know, I think

1353
01:22:57,000 --> 01:23:01,360
Speaker 1: that income tax in general has already opened the door

1354
01:23:01,400 --> 01:23:04,479
Speaker 1: to taxing wealth. But I get your point, right, which is,

1355
01:23:05,120 --> 01:23:09,320
Speaker 1: you know this goes to the whole which is inheritance income,

1356
01:23:09,439 --> 01:23:13,799
Speaker 1: things like that, and how it's been very difficult to tax,

1357
01:23:13,920 --> 01:23:16,639
Speaker 1: and whether you know how much of that should be

1358
01:23:17,280 --> 01:23:19,360
Speaker 1: you know should be able to be carried over. You

1359
01:23:19,360 --> 01:23:21,960
Speaker 1: can carry it over, but you should have to essentially

1360
01:23:21,960 --> 01:23:27,719
Speaker 1: pay some tax on those earnings. Obviously, the well marketed

1361
01:23:27,760 --> 01:23:34,240
Speaker 1: phrase death tax has really benefited the one half of

1362
01:23:34,320 --> 01:23:37,479
Speaker 1: one percent who have taken advantage of this to pass

1363
01:23:37,520 --> 01:23:39,600
Speaker 1: their wealth down. So I'm a little more skeptical of

1364
01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:42,760
Speaker 1: the second, but I think your first one to spot on,

1365
01:23:43,439 --> 01:23:46,639
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean, I still think that third parties

1366
01:23:46,680 --> 01:23:54,000
Speaker 1: and independent parties have an equal protection argument when it

1367
01:23:54,040 --> 01:23:58,000
Speaker 1: comes to lack of access to the ballot in these states.

1368
01:23:58,000 --> 01:24:01,360
Speaker 1: I think it's unconstitutional already, but I agree put the

1369
01:24:01,400 --> 01:24:04,679
Speaker 1: amendment in and that would would break up the duopoly

1370
01:24:04,760 --> 01:24:08,559
Speaker 1: in a hurry. Next question comes from Douglas from Baltimore City, Maryland.

1371
01:24:09,000 --> 01:24:10,680
Speaker 1: He goes, I just listened to your NAT's rant from

1372
01:24:10,680 --> 01:24:12,120
Speaker 1: a few days ago, and I feel the same about

1373
01:24:12,120 --> 01:24:13,960
Speaker 1: the Orioles. I know you do. I know a lot

1374
01:24:14,000 --> 01:24:17,160
Speaker 1: of those fans by Buddy Jason lockhamfora Who's one of

1375
01:24:17,200 --> 01:24:21,240
Speaker 1: my favorite guests, Antoni Corneiser. You want that dude does rants?

1376
01:24:21,280 --> 01:24:24,280
Speaker 1: Forget me that dude does rants and He's been on

1377
01:24:24,360 --> 01:24:26,840
Speaker 1: top of this Orioles debacle for a long time, so

1378
01:24:27,439 --> 01:24:32,160
Speaker 1: I absolutely am aware of where oohs fans feel these days.

1379
01:24:32,760 --> 01:24:34,400
Speaker 1: Let me continue with your question. I missed the twenty

1380
01:24:34,400 --> 01:24:36,479
Speaker 1: fourteen season when we were close to having a Battle

1381
01:24:36,479 --> 01:24:38,320
Speaker 1: of the Belways World Series. That's right, we both made

1382
01:24:38,320 --> 01:24:40,360
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I too, am frustrated with the season at

1383
01:24:40,400 --> 01:24:42,040
Speaker 1: Camden Yards. We went from having one of the best

1384
01:24:42,040 --> 01:24:44,120
Speaker 1: teams in twenty twenty four to among the worst in

1385
01:24:44,160 --> 01:24:46,639
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Your words made me think, why don't

1386
01:24:46,680 --> 01:24:48,960
Speaker 1: we have a meet the press for sports? Would you

1387
01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:51,840
Speaker 1: ex please explain why it's so difficult getting truthful answers

1388
01:24:51,880 --> 01:24:54,160
Speaker 1: in the sports world. One would think it would be

1389
01:24:54,240 --> 01:24:56,879
Speaker 1: easier to get in depth reporting from local sports journalists,

1390
01:24:56,880 --> 01:24:59,479
Speaker 1: but it seems the national reporters get the better scoop.

1391
01:24:59,520 --> 01:25:01,720
Speaker 1: Thanks for what you do. Well, Look, the issue in

1392
01:25:01,760 --> 01:25:06,080
Speaker 1: sports journalism is is access. You have to you know,

1393
01:25:06,680 --> 01:25:09,000
Speaker 1: we talk about something that gets that is seen as

1394
01:25:09,000 --> 01:25:12,439
Speaker 1: a pejorative in political journalism, and that's access journalism, right,

1395
01:25:13,040 --> 01:25:15,040
Speaker 1: And you know, in order to get access, you've got

1396
01:25:15,080 --> 01:25:17,559
Speaker 1: to be careful in what you report sports journalism. If

1397
01:25:17,560 --> 01:25:19,320
Speaker 1: you're on the sports but you have to have access,

1398
01:25:19,400 --> 01:25:21,680
Speaker 1: right if A, if A, you know, and here's the

1399
01:25:21,720 --> 01:25:24,639
Speaker 1: other thing, right, there's no Freedom of Information Act that

1400
01:25:24,720 --> 01:25:28,599
Speaker 1: you can use to force the Washington Nationals owner to talk,

1401
01:25:29,000 --> 01:25:34,400
Speaker 1: or to force the Baltimore Orioles GM to talk. And

1402
01:25:34,439 --> 01:25:37,840
Speaker 1: that's that's like one huge you know, with when when

1403
01:25:37,840 --> 01:25:41,840
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with taxpayer funded entities, whether it's political offices

1404
01:25:42,400 --> 01:25:45,479
Speaker 1: or government agencies, I sort of have the power of

1405
01:25:45,520 --> 01:25:48,400
Speaker 1: the people on my side to fory, hey, look your

1406
01:25:48,439 --> 01:25:51,200
Speaker 1: taxpayer fund, You've got to answer this question. So there's

1407
01:25:51,280 --> 01:25:53,920
Speaker 1: just a Now, we can make the case all these

1408
01:25:53,960 --> 01:25:58,320
Speaker 1: taxpayer funded stadiums and should open, but ultimately, these clubs

1409
01:25:58,320 --> 01:26:00,920
Speaker 1: are private enterprises, right, and you can't force a private

1410
01:26:01,000 --> 01:26:03,880
Speaker 1: enterprise to do anything. And I think that's why you see,

1411
01:26:04,439 --> 01:26:07,559
Speaker 1: you know, frankly, a lot of softer reporting these days.

1412
01:26:07,560 --> 01:26:10,000
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I'm very frustrated with the Washington Post

1413
01:26:10,000 --> 01:26:14,519
Speaker 1: sports section. They've done to me a very They've been

1414
01:26:14,640 --> 01:26:17,040
Speaker 1: very weak on this issue of the Nats, and frankly

1415
01:26:17,080 --> 01:26:20,960
Speaker 1: the Oriols too, because the Oils are largely but you know,

1416
01:26:22,040 --> 01:26:25,400
Speaker 1: in they're larger beat. But look, the Washington Post has

1417
01:26:25,400 --> 01:26:27,400
Speaker 1: made a decision they're no longer a local newspaper, and

1418
01:26:27,439 --> 01:26:29,800
Speaker 1: they have zero interest in it. Trust me, I go

1419
01:26:29,840 --> 01:26:33,479
Speaker 1: through this. I live in a news desert called Arlington County. Now,

1420
01:26:33,600 --> 01:26:36,000
Speaker 1: because the Washington Post does not cover anything that happens

1421
01:26:36,040 --> 01:26:39,240
Speaker 1: in Arlington. They'd rather cover what's happening in Gaza. They'd

1422
01:26:39,320 --> 01:26:42,879
Speaker 1: rather cover what's They view themselves as a national news organization.

1423
01:26:43,000 --> 01:26:45,840
Speaker 1: They do not see any other than covering the federal government.

1424
01:26:45,880 --> 01:26:49,440
Speaker 1: They see no interest in covering anything else. They occasionally

1425
01:26:49,439 --> 01:26:52,599
Speaker 1: cover city government, but they don't do that. And now

1426
01:26:52,640 --> 01:26:55,000
Speaker 1: in sports, I mean, as a friend of mine pointed out,

1427
01:26:55,600 --> 01:26:58,320
Speaker 1: three of their four biggest sports columnists don't even live

1428
01:26:58,360 --> 01:27:00,799
Speaker 1: in the district. Don't even live in the metro area.

1429
01:27:01,240 --> 01:27:03,799
Speaker 1: Some of their chief sports columnists live in other cities,

1430
01:27:03,840 --> 01:27:06,600
Speaker 1: which means they don't really have their finger on the

1431
01:27:06,640 --> 01:27:09,439
Speaker 1: pulse of the fan. There's nobody that writes from the

1432
01:27:09,479 --> 01:27:13,120
Speaker 1: perspective of the frustrated fan. Right, What would our buddy

1433
01:27:13,120 --> 01:27:17,360
Speaker 1: Tony Cardneizer be doing. He'd be ripping the shit out

1434
01:27:17,400 --> 01:27:21,639
Speaker 1: of both the Learners and Rubinstein. He'd be killing them

1435
01:27:22,040 --> 01:27:25,160
Speaker 1: because of how these teams have performed. And we don't

1436
01:27:25,160 --> 01:27:27,960
Speaker 1: have that columnist that does that anymore. And part of

1437
01:27:28,000 --> 01:27:32,120
Speaker 1: it is I think again it goes back to these

1438
01:27:32,200 --> 01:27:36,160
Speaker 1: teams that figured out they they can sort of freeze

1439
01:27:36,160 --> 01:27:40,280
Speaker 1: out reporters. They can freeze out these folks, and it

1440
01:27:40,360 --> 01:27:42,400
Speaker 1: is much harder to report on sports if you don't

1441
01:27:42,400 --> 01:27:44,720
Speaker 1: have access than anything else you can. You know, if

1442
01:27:44,760 --> 01:27:47,559
Speaker 1: somebody freezes me out, you know I could still report

1443
01:27:47,560 --> 01:27:51,320
Speaker 1: on them. I've got other ways in. It's just harder

1444
01:27:51,360 --> 01:27:55,200
Speaker 1: in the world of sports. And so I empathize with that,

1445
01:27:55,640 --> 01:27:58,840
Speaker 1: walking that line for the need to have access, to

1446
01:27:58,880 --> 01:28:02,040
Speaker 1: make sure you can deserve practices right, to make sure

1447
01:28:02,080 --> 01:28:06,320
Speaker 1: you could be in the facility, and at the same

1448
01:28:06,400 --> 01:28:10,679
Speaker 1: time try to try to get tougher. But I that's

1449
01:28:10,920 --> 01:28:13,040
Speaker 1: you know. I have another friend of my friend, Jason Page,

1450
01:28:13,040 --> 01:28:17,479
Speaker 1: who's the sports page. If you're looking for a thinking

1451
01:28:17,560 --> 01:28:21,080
Speaker 1: man's sports show, I would recommend you checking him out.

1452
01:28:21,280 --> 01:28:22,519
Speaker 1: He said the same thing to me. He goes, I've

1453
01:28:22,520 --> 01:28:24,760
Speaker 1: always wanted to meet the press for sports, but when

1454
01:28:24,800 --> 01:28:26,720
Speaker 1: we talked through it, you realize, you know, you're not

1455
01:28:27,400 --> 01:28:28,960
Speaker 1: the people that you would want to put in the

1456
01:28:28,960 --> 01:28:31,400
Speaker 1: hot seat, will never do it. I mean I went

1457
01:28:31,479 --> 01:28:33,519
Speaker 1: ten years trying to get Roger Goodell to sit down

1458
01:28:33,520 --> 01:28:37,000
Speaker 1: with me and you just won't do it right. He's

1459
01:28:37,000 --> 01:28:41,559
Speaker 1: going to sit down with somebody who he's paid for

1460
01:28:41,600 --> 01:28:44,400
Speaker 1: their rights, you know who pays them for the rights

1461
01:28:44,400 --> 01:28:47,760
Speaker 1: to air the NFL. So I mean, you know this

1462
01:28:47,880 --> 01:28:50,479
Speaker 1: is going to call into question you can ESPN be

1463
01:28:50,520 --> 01:28:53,519
Speaker 1: a journalistic enterprise and be in partnership with the NFL.

1464
01:28:54,640 --> 01:28:57,759
Speaker 1: I think that's when to me, that's a good topic

1465
01:28:57,800 --> 01:29:02,320
Speaker 1: of conversation for journalism schools all around the country. I

1466
01:29:02,320 --> 01:29:04,080
Speaker 1: bet you didn't think I would have that long of

1467
01:29:04,120 --> 01:29:06,519
Speaker 1: an answer on that one. Anyway, I appreciate the question,

1468
01:29:06,640 --> 01:29:10,240
Speaker 1: and look, it sucks. I hate what's happened to those

1469
01:29:10,680 --> 01:29:14,479
Speaker 1: And just to let you know how personally you know invested,

1470
01:29:14,520 --> 01:29:16,400
Speaker 1: I was in the o's doing well. I have a

1471
01:29:16,400 --> 01:29:20,080
Speaker 1: lot of Adlie Rushman PSA. Ten rookies that I'm sitting

1472
01:29:20,120 --> 01:29:22,559
Speaker 1: on that right now are not worth what I think

1473
01:29:22,600 --> 01:29:25,599
Speaker 1: they should be worth because Adley isn't playing the way

1474
01:29:25,640 --> 01:29:28,519
Speaker 1: we all thought Adlie would be playing. All right, let

1475
01:29:28,560 --> 01:29:30,360
Speaker 1: me move my next question. Love the show, especially the

1476
01:29:30,360 --> 01:29:32,679
Speaker 1: deep dives into politics. When do you think the proverb

1477
01:29:32,720 --> 01:29:34,479
Speaker 1: the higher you climb, the harder you fall will finally

1478
01:29:34,560 --> 01:29:37,360
Speaker 1: catch up with Trump? Will Republicans ever realize that clinging

1479
01:29:37,360 --> 01:29:39,920
Speaker 1: to a president with plummeting polls and bullying tactic could

1480
01:29:39,920 --> 01:29:42,679
Speaker 1: cost them their own careers and actually stand up to them,

1481
01:29:42,880 --> 01:29:44,880
Speaker 1: or will they continue enabling him until they go down

1482
01:29:44,880 --> 01:29:48,080
Speaker 1: and disgrace too. Thanks for your show, Alex from Chapel Hill. Well, Alex,

1483
01:29:48,439 --> 01:29:50,559
Speaker 1: let me answer your second part of your question first,

1484
01:29:50,560 --> 01:29:53,600
Speaker 1: which is, you know, why are some when will Republicans

1485
01:29:53,640 --> 01:29:57,880
Speaker 1: realize that clinging to him will cost them their own careers? Unfortunately,

1486
01:29:57,960 --> 01:30:00,479
Speaker 1: right now the example is just the opposite, right, those

1487
01:30:00,520 --> 01:30:02,879
Speaker 1: that have tried to speak out, those that have sought distance,

1488
01:30:03,000 --> 01:30:08,479
Speaker 1: their political careers have ended. Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, Don

1489
01:30:08,520 --> 01:30:11,719
Speaker 1: Bacon's decided to retire, Tom Tillis has decided to retire.

1490
01:30:12,640 --> 01:30:15,120
Speaker 1: I we'll see if Bill Cassidy decides to run. John

1491
01:30:15,200 --> 01:30:17,959
Speaker 1: Cornan may end up not running. Anybody that has attempted

1492
01:30:18,080 --> 01:30:21,000
Speaker 1: any distance, it's not going well for them, right in

1493
01:30:21,320 --> 01:30:23,920
Speaker 1: that sense. I mean, look, I'm just speaking as a

1494
01:30:23,920 --> 01:30:27,479
Speaker 1: realist here. I think that's I mean, I think you're right.

1495
01:30:27,640 --> 01:30:32,599
Speaker 1: I think they're going to pay a steep price someday, right,

1496
01:30:33,080 --> 01:30:36,160
Speaker 1: you know. It's like, look, it eventually happened with Nixon

1497
01:30:36,200 --> 01:30:41,559
Speaker 1: and the Republicans. Right, it eventually happens, but it's uh.

1498
01:30:42,320 --> 01:30:46,120
Speaker 1: You know, if you look at the track record so far,

1499
01:30:46,960 --> 01:30:51,040
Speaker 1: trying to get distance from him and stay a Republican

1500
01:30:51,080 --> 01:30:54,800
Speaker 1: has been impossible. Right, hasn't worked for Liz Cheney, didn't

1501
01:30:54,800 --> 01:30:57,799
Speaker 1: work for Paul Ryan, hasn't really worked for Mitch McConnell

1502
01:30:58,600 --> 01:31:01,320
Speaker 1: and Mitch McCoy. And then you know what's worse is

1503
01:31:01,320 --> 01:31:03,400
Speaker 1: when you show distance and then you try to get back,

1504
01:31:03,400 --> 01:31:05,720
Speaker 1: and then you look even worse. Right, I don't know

1505
01:31:05,720 --> 01:31:10,040
Speaker 1: who's worse of those, right, So you know, Mike Pence,

1506
01:31:11,280 --> 01:31:15,120
Speaker 1: what's his future? Right? And I think he's really you know,

1507
01:31:15,840 --> 01:31:18,840
Speaker 1: particularly since January sixth, really sort of stood up to

1508
01:31:18,920 --> 01:31:22,400
Speaker 1: him on principle, is as principled of a conservative as

1509
01:31:22,400 --> 01:31:24,400
Speaker 1: you can find out there. You know, if you want

1510
01:31:24,400 --> 01:31:27,360
Speaker 1: to criticize them for enabling them early, you know, I

1511
01:31:27,400 --> 01:31:30,760
Speaker 1: always say be careful criticizing somebody that enabled Trump early on.

1512
01:31:31,040 --> 01:31:34,200
Speaker 1: You know, at the end of the day, if somebody

1513
01:31:34,240 --> 01:31:36,880
Speaker 1: is willing to jump into your fox hole to help

1514
01:31:36,920 --> 01:31:41,519
Speaker 1: defend the democracy, why don't you just say welcome? You know,

1515
01:31:41,600 --> 01:31:46,000
Speaker 1: I do think it's not healthy that people get held

1516
01:31:46,000 --> 01:31:48,920
Speaker 1: to account. You know, Oh, now you say it, oh,

1517
01:31:49,160 --> 01:31:53,240
Speaker 1: this or that, you know, I think at this point,

1518
01:31:53,520 --> 01:31:55,479
Speaker 1: this is what I always say about Trump. Everybody has

1519
01:31:56,000 --> 01:31:58,680
Speaker 1: has a line that when he crosses it, you know

1520
01:31:59,680 --> 01:32:04,439
Speaker 1: there out. But the line is different for everybody. You know.

1521
01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:06,880
Speaker 1: The line was different for John Bolton, the line was

1522
01:32:06,880 --> 01:32:11,240
Speaker 1: different for Liz Chaney. The line was different for Jeff Flake. Okay,

1523
01:32:11,640 --> 01:32:14,639
Speaker 1: but everybody's got a line. And the history of Trump

1524
01:32:14,680 --> 01:32:17,320
Speaker 1: is the event. He always wears out his welcome eventually,

1525
01:32:18,240 --> 01:32:21,040
Speaker 1: and it always you know, you know, at some point

1526
01:32:21,040 --> 01:32:22,800
Speaker 1: we're going to get to the Gary Busey stage of

1527
01:32:22,840 --> 01:32:26,360
Speaker 1: his presidency, right, and when we're at the Gary Busey stage,

1528
01:32:26,400 --> 01:32:29,280
Speaker 1: which was when you knew The Apprentice that was literally

1529
01:32:29,360 --> 01:32:31,880
Speaker 1: that the Apprentice's version to me of jumping the shark,

1530
01:32:31,960 --> 01:32:35,360
Speaker 1: right when Gary Busey was was on the Marquee, That's

1531
01:32:35,360 --> 01:32:38,600
Speaker 1: when you knew that show was breathing its last fews.

1532
01:32:38,880 --> 01:32:41,400
Speaker 1: We're not quite at the Gary Busey stage, but we

1533
01:32:41,479 --> 01:32:46,200
Speaker 1: could be. Right if this economy, I ultimately believe it

1534
01:32:46,280 --> 01:32:49,200
Speaker 1: will be the economy and the inability, you know, and

1535
01:32:49,320 --> 01:32:52,759
Speaker 1: his economic theories that don't come to fruition and instead

1536
01:32:53,200 --> 01:32:56,799
Speaker 1: cause economic pain that will lead to his eventual collapse.

1537
01:32:57,640 --> 01:33:01,400
Speaker 1: The question is how many Republicans go down with them,

1538
01:33:01,439 --> 01:33:03,880
Speaker 1: and how many of them say I was never for

1539
01:33:03,920 --> 01:33:06,840
Speaker 1: that in the first place and can save themselves. That

1540
01:33:06,920 --> 01:33:09,880
Speaker 1: will be interesting to watch when this app Look it

1541
01:33:09,920 --> 01:33:13,680
Speaker 1: will happen eventually. The question is when, all right, I'm

1542
01:33:13,680 --> 01:33:16,840
Speaker 1: gonna take one more question and then wrap things up

1543
01:33:16,880 --> 01:33:21,200
Speaker 1: for this for this week. We got a great set

1544
01:33:21,200 --> 01:33:22,840
Speaker 1: of shows coming up for you next week as well.

1545
01:33:22,880 --> 01:33:24,960
Speaker 1: But here's the next one. Hell check any truth to

1546
01:33:25,000 --> 01:33:27,400
Speaker 1: the rumor that Trump vindictively called in to report on

1547
01:33:27,439 --> 01:33:29,519
Speaker 1: Epstein in early two thousand because he was mad about

1548
01:33:29,560 --> 01:33:31,639
Speaker 1: the real estate bidding war. Sounds like something he would

1549
01:33:31,680 --> 01:33:34,040
Speaker 1: do for sure, and explains why he's floundering for a

1550
01:33:34,080 --> 01:33:37,240
Speaker 1: coherent answer. Thanks, Jeff arr Well, what you're referring to

1551
01:33:37,360 --> 01:33:41,560
Speaker 1: is actually it's what Michael Wolfe claims. Michael Wolfe interviewed

1552
01:33:41,760 --> 01:33:45,639
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein in a series of interviews between twenty fifteen

1553
01:33:45,680 --> 01:33:48,640
Speaker 1: and twenty nineteen, and he is chronicled to get an

1554
01:33:48,680 --> 01:33:51,479
Speaker 1: interview with Jonathan Alter and on Jonathan Alter Substack, where

1555
01:33:51,479 --> 01:33:53,840
Speaker 1: he chronicled sort of his inability to get a book

1556
01:33:53,920 --> 01:33:56,519
Speaker 1: deal on this because there's a lot of publishers not

1557
01:33:56,560 --> 01:33:58,559
Speaker 1: sure what to do. You know, can you how do

1558
01:33:58,600 --> 01:34:01,880
Speaker 1: you confirm recordings with somebody who's dead? Right? It is

1559
01:34:01,880 --> 01:34:04,080
Speaker 1: a it is not an easy thing. And and and

1560
01:34:04,120 --> 01:34:07,639
Speaker 1: certainly Michael Wolfe also is a let's just say it's

1561
01:34:07,640 --> 01:34:12,599
Speaker 1: polarizing in the publishing world. But you know, remember where

1562
01:34:12,600 --> 01:34:16,920
Speaker 1: his sourcing comes from. He's quoting Epstein. He says, Epstein

1563
01:34:17,080 --> 01:34:21,120
Speaker 1: thinks it's Trump who called the authorities on him. So

1564
01:34:21,840 --> 01:34:25,520
Speaker 1: you know that's the that's that, that's quite the allegation.

1565
01:34:27,439 --> 01:34:31,160
Speaker 1: Maybe Maxwell could give you confirmation on that. But is

1566
01:34:31,200 --> 01:34:37,040
Speaker 1: she a trustworthy source on any of this? So it's uh, look,

1567
01:34:37,080 --> 01:34:40,000
Speaker 1: I think the real problem he has. And by the way,

1568
01:34:40,760 --> 01:34:45,640
Speaker 1: this you know I'm taping before there is a publicized

1569
01:34:46,160 --> 01:34:50,599
Speaker 1: meeting between this at the at the Vice presidential residence, JD.

1570
01:34:50,720 --> 01:34:53,479
Speaker 1: Vance is hosting the Attorney General, the director of the FBI,

1571
01:34:53,800 --> 01:34:56,479
Speaker 1: and the White House Chief of Staff to apparently have

1572
01:34:56,560 --> 01:35:01,080
Speaker 1: a meeting on coordinating how to handle the Epstein disclosures.

1573
01:35:03,479 --> 01:35:06,920
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, let let's let's let's let's do a

1574
01:35:06,960 --> 01:35:11,679
Speaker 1: little uh what if here? How about Vice President Kamala

1575
01:35:11,720 --> 01:35:14,719
Speaker 1: Harris hosts White House Chief of Staff Jeff Science, Attorney

1576
01:35:14,760 --> 01:35:19,040
Speaker 1: General Merrek Garland and FBI Director Christopher Ray at the

1577
01:35:19,120 --> 01:35:23,439
Speaker 1: VP's residence to discuss how to deal with the Jeffrey

1578
01:35:23,439 --> 01:35:28,679
Speaker 1: Epstein disclosures. How quickly would House Republicans have an oversight

1579
01:35:28,760 --> 01:35:31,320
Speaker 1: hearing and subpoena is ready to go for all of

1580
01:35:31,320 --> 01:35:37,559
Speaker 1: those folks, right. I can't think of anything more an

1581
01:35:37,600 --> 01:35:40,120
Speaker 1: ethical for the Attorney General and the FBI director to

1582
01:35:40,160 --> 01:35:42,400
Speaker 1: do than to show up and participate in this meeting.

1583
01:35:42,680 --> 01:35:46,000
Speaker 1: If they have an ounce of integrity. And I don't

1584
01:35:46,000 --> 01:35:48,559
Speaker 1: know if the word I and FBI even stands for

1585
01:35:48,600 --> 01:35:51,880
Speaker 1: integrity anymore anywhere over there, considering how Battel's been running

1586
01:35:51,880 --> 01:35:54,320
Speaker 1: that place. But if they want to have an ounce

1587
01:35:54,320 --> 01:35:57,040
Speaker 1: of integrity and legitimacy in the jobs that they have,

1588
01:35:57,800 --> 01:36:00,160
Speaker 1: Pambonni and Cash Pattel should be no shows for this meeting.

1589
01:36:00,960 --> 01:36:04,320
Speaker 1: It is to have this sort of I mean, I

1590
01:36:04,360 --> 01:36:07,519
Speaker 1: guess you can give them credit for being honest about

1591
01:36:07,560 --> 01:36:10,960
Speaker 1: the politicizing of the Justice Department in the FBI, but

1592
01:36:11,040 --> 01:36:15,760
Speaker 1: my god, it is beyond brazen. It's such a reminder

1593
01:36:16,280 --> 01:36:21,720
Speaker 1: that if that the biggest mistake Richard Nixon made was

1594
01:36:21,840 --> 01:36:24,439
Speaker 1: keeping all of this stuff secret, apparently he should have

1595
01:36:24,479 --> 01:36:28,920
Speaker 1: just done it out in the open, because, for whatever reason,

1596
01:36:29,360 --> 01:36:33,280
Speaker 1: the public and the politicians are number to when they

1597
01:36:33,360 --> 01:36:37,920
Speaker 1: see the break. Wait, wait, should they be doing that? No,

1598
01:36:37,960 --> 01:36:40,920
Speaker 1: they shouldn't be doing that. Okay, don't if I ask

1599
01:36:40,960 --> 01:36:43,800
Speaker 1: the question, No, they shouldn't be doing that. But I'm

1600
01:36:43,800 --> 01:36:48,280
Speaker 1: sure James Comer is going to be outraged someday about

1601
01:36:48,640 --> 01:36:51,280
Speaker 1: the Vice President, the White House Chief of Staff, the

1602
01:36:51,320 --> 01:36:55,040
Speaker 1: Attorney General, and the head of the FBI having a

1603
01:36:55,080 --> 01:36:59,120
Speaker 1: meeting to collude to decide how to deal with the

1604
01:36:59,120 --> 01:37:05,760
Speaker 1: Epstein files. It's I know every day, you know, it's

1605
01:37:05,760 --> 01:37:09,479
Speaker 1: hard to be you know, what's the phrase, You're shocked

1606
01:37:09,520 --> 01:37:14,840
Speaker 1: but not surprised. You know, we've all become numb to

1607
01:37:15,040 --> 01:37:19,120
Speaker 1: how unethical many in this administration are operating right now.

1608
01:37:19,560 --> 01:37:23,880
Speaker 1: But this is just yet another example of just absolutely,

1609
01:37:24,760 --> 01:37:31,200
Speaker 1: absolutely outrageous and unethical behavior here. And here's what we

1610
01:37:31,240 --> 01:37:34,280
Speaker 1: all know. The leading critics of a meeting like this,

1611
01:37:34,400 --> 01:37:37,759
Speaker 1: if the roles were reversed, would be Jade Vance, Cash

1612
01:37:37,800 --> 01:37:42,920
Speaker 1: Battel and Donald Trump. All Right, I'm gonna take one

1613
01:37:42,920 --> 01:37:45,679
Speaker 1: more question to try to end on a lighter note. Chuck,

1614
01:37:45,720 --> 01:37:47,800
Speaker 1: please share your insights in Brady House. He's on my

1615
01:37:47,800 --> 01:37:51,719
Speaker 1: fantasy team I'm rebuilding. Loll I love Brady House. I think, look,

1616
01:37:52,120 --> 01:37:54,439
Speaker 1: we drafted him. This is one of the few players

1617
01:37:54,439 --> 01:37:57,280
Speaker 1: that that's have drafted and developed. So you know, I

1618
01:37:57,320 --> 01:38:01,559
Speaker 1: don't know, right, but we drafted him as an eighteen

1619
01:38:01,640 --> 01:38:03,720
Speaker 1: year old. He spent about two and a half years

1620
01:38:03,720 --> 01:38:07,760
Speaker 1: in the miners. Every year his hitting got better, every year,

1621
01:38:07,960 --> 01:38:14,360
Speaker 1: his power got greater. Looks, he's super young. The guy's

1622
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:18,439
Speaker 1: got a terrific love. He belongs in the majors. He strike.

1623
01:38:18,560 --> 01:38:22,599
Speaker 1: I mean, I am. Look, I'm always an optimist about

1624
01:38:22,600 --> 01:38:25,200
Speaker 1: my teams. You know, remember the word fan is short

1625
01:38:25,200 --> 01:38:27,840
Speaker 1: for fanatic, and I'm a fanatic about the Nats. I'm

1626
01:38:27,880 --> 01:38:30,400
Speaker 1: a fanatic about the Hurricanes. And if I'm using the

1627
01:38:30,400 --> 01:38:33,240
Speaker 1: word fanatic, it means that I'm not a bit irrational

1628
01:38:33,280 --> 01:38:35,960
Speaker 1: when it comes to my expectations and what I believe.

1629
01:38:37,360 --> 01:38:39,360
Speaker 1: But I like what I see out of House. I

1630
01:38:39,400 --> 01:38:42,559
Speaker 1: have followed him very closely in the miners because he

1631
01:38:42,600 --> 01:38:44,320
Speaker 1: was a you know, he was our first round draft pick,

1632
01:38:44,360 --> 01:38:48,479
Speaker 1: and I think it was twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two.

1633
01:38:48,840 --> 01:38:52,280
Speaker 1: My apologies for if I missed that date, but I'm

1634
01:38:52,320 --> 01:38:54,280
Speaker 1: bullish on him. If you've got one of those dynasty

1635
01:38:54,360 --> 01:38:58,960
Speaker 1: leagues right where I keep him another year, maybe even two.

1636
01:39:00,800 --> 01:39:03,280
Speaker 1: I think he could very well be the next Anthony

1637
01:39:03,360 --> 01:39:07,559
Speaker 1: Rendon for us. Not the Anthony Rendon that has wasted

1638
01:39:07,640 --> 01:39:11,280
Speaker 1: Ardi Morino's money in Anaheim, but the Anthony Rendon that

1639
01:39:11,320 --> 01:39:13,519
Speaker 1: the Nats were able to develop and win a world

1640
01:39:13,520 --> 01:39:15,719
Speaker 1: series with who finished in the top five and MVP

1641
01:39:15,880 --> 01:39:19,200
Speaker 1: voting that year. By the way, all right, with that,

1642
01:39:20,680 --> 01:39:23,519
Speaker 1: I will and this pot. I hope you enjoyed this

1643
01:39:23,560 --> 01:39:26,800
Speaker 1: week of episodes. Appreciate all the support you've given us.

1644
01:39:27,160 --> 01:39:31,759
Speaker 1: Subscribe like five star reviews. We love all of them.

1645
01:39:32,240 --> 01:39:35,479
Speaker 1: Send me your feedback, send me your questions, send me

1646
01:39:35,520 --> 01:39:39,679
Speaker 1: your remembrances of Gordon Solely and Dusty Rhodes and all

1647
01:39:39,680 --> 01:39:43,080
Speaker 1: of that stuff. And with that, we'll probably take about

1648
01:39:43,080 --> 01:39:45,479
Speaker 1: a ninety six hour break, but from there until we

1649
01:39:45,520 --> 01:39:46,080
Speaker 1: upload again.