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Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay EPP Daily with

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Speaker 1: me your girl, Danielle Moody, recording from my quarantine bunker

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Speaker 1: where I still have COVID. Folks. I'm going to start

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Speaker 1: out today with saying that this is my first full

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Speaker 1: fledged recording since contracting COVID, and so bear with me.

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Speaker 1: We will get through this together. I want to start

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Speaker 1: off today with telling you a little bit about, you know,

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Speaker 1: my initial experience with contracting COVID. As I mentioned yesterday,

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Speaker 1: you know, there is still this lingering feeling of being

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Speaker 1: a failure that I have because you know, when you

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Speaker 1: do a show where you're trying to inform people on

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Speaker 1: how to stay safe, how to stay sane, how to

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Speaker 1: stay involved and connected, I feel a responsibility to not

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Speaker 1: only tell you about what my opinions on what to

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Speaker 1: do in order to live a full, complete, you know, life,

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Speaker 1: and also to be a full and complete participant in

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Speaker 1: our democracy. And I feel a responsibility to model that behavior.

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Speaker 1: And so I toiled really hard for a while with

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Speaker 1: how I was going to bring the news to all

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Speaker 1: of you, how I was going to break the news

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Speaker 1: to all of you that I had contracted COVID after

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Speaker 1: two years of telling, you know, sharing doctor Jonathan Metzel's insights,

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Speaker 1: sharing you know, insights from other guests, bringing on doctor Fauci,

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Speaker 1: bring on other doctors to talk about how to keep

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Speaker 1: ourselves safe and sane during this time, and then to

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Speaker 1: turn around and be like, oh, by the way, I

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Speaker 1: got the thing that I was trying to protect all

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Speaker 1: of you from getting, And look, I get it. I

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Speaker 1: know that it is highly transmissible. I know that pretty

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Speaker 1: much at the stage that we are in going into

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Speaker 1: year three, headed into year three in a couple of

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Speaker 1: months with this virus, that it's a feat that I

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Speaker 1: haven't contracted it before now, and that you know, it

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Speaker 1: isn't a moral failing. It is the reality that when

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Speaker 1: we had the opportunity to end COVID, because of our politics,

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Speaker 1: because of this divide in our country, we didn't write.

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Speaker 1: You had some people that believed in science and doctors

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Speaker 1: and vaccines, and then others that were calling in bomb

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Speaker 1: threats to hospitals and threatening nurses and epidemiologists. We're living

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Speaker 1: and twisted and distorted times. And so I say all

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Speaker 1: that because I wanted to give some insight into how

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Speaker 1: I've been feeling while I've been isolating for the last

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Speaker 1: ten days. And you know, when you are alone, and

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Speaker 1: like I said yesterday, I appreciate technology, thank God, because

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Speaker 1: I don't know what I would have done without it.

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Speaker 1: But when you are alone, you're alone with your thoughts,

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Speaker 1: and you think about a lot of things and what

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Speaker 1: you could have done differently and what you will do differently.

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Speaker 1: And the fact of the matter is that COVID is

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Speaker 1: not a moral failing. If you contract it, it is

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Speaker 1: now essentially going to be like how we contract the

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Speaker 1: flu and the chicken pox, and God forbid anything else

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Speaker 1: outside of that that pops up in this world these days.

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Speaker 1: But what I will continue to say is, you know,

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Speaker 1: to be mindful. I didn't just throw up my hands

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Speaker 1: and say, well, it's everywhere, so now I don't care.

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Speaker 1: It was. You know, I was out an outdoor family event,

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Speaker 1: and you know, me and another good friend of mine

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Speaker 1: were the only two people who ended up walking away

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Speaker 1: with like actual symptoms. That doesn't mean that other folks

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Speaker 1: didn't contracted. It just means that maybe they don't know

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Speaker 1: because they were asymptomatic. Thankfully, my symptoms have been mild,

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Speaker 1: but I do get tired when I am talking a lot.

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Speaker 1: I do find myself getting winded, and you know, I've

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Speaker 1: had a cough and congestion like everybody else has had,

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Speaker 1: but thankfully no fever, Thankfully no brain fog, and you know,

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Speaker 1: thankful for science and doctors and vaccines. That's all I

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Speaker 1: kept thinking about. You know, I was like on I

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Speaker 1: think it was the second day that I was in isolation.

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Speaker 1: I was laying on my couch behind me, and I

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Speaker 1: was just you know, I had been in my feelings

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Speaker 1: and one of my best friends was just like, Danielle,

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Speaker 1: I need you to concentrate and like, find some gratitude,

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Speaker 1: find some things that you were grateful for. This is

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Speaker 1: not like the end all be all, like you're acting

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Speaker 1: as if, like, you know, the world is crashing in

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Speaker 1: on you. I mean it is right when we're talking

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Speaker 1: about like the world, but you know, my world. She

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Speaker 1: was being specific to pull me out of my bullshit

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Speaker 1: and my nonsense, and so I did. I was laying

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Speaker 1: there and I started to think about what are the

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Speaker 1: things that I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for fucking vaccines.

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Speaker 1: You know, this virus that is now swimming inside of

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Speaker 1: me and will I guess, you know, as doctor Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Metel has said, We'll live inside of us for God

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Speaker 1: knows how long isn't killing me. I'm not in a hospital,

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Speaker 1: I'm not on a ventilator, and the only thing that

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Speaker 1: separates me from you know what is it now the

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Speaker 1: million plus people that have lost their lives to COVID

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Speaker 1: is the shots that I got in my arm and

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Speaker 1: the booster. Right, I was thinking back to my God,

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Speaker 1: thank God that I got this in twenty twenty two

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Speaker 1: and not in twenty twenty when we were all rolling

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Speaker 1: the dice, when we were washing cardboard, right, because we

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Speaker 1: didn't know how long this virus that we had never

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Speaker 1: heard of existed on surfaces where you know, we were

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Speaker 1: quarantine inside our homes that afraid that each sniffle or

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Speaker 1: cough was going to mean the end of our lives.

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Speaker 1: How far we have come into plus years of living

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Speaker 1: with this pandemic, and the thank God for those that

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Speaker 1: toiled away and had been working on mRNA, you know,

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Speaker 1: vaccines before this virus struck, because they knew the potential

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Speaker 1: of what would be coming. You know, That's the faith

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Speaker 1: that I have in science and in doctors and analysts

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Speaker 1: and researchers. Right, health practitioners that have been, you know,

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Speaker 1: toiling away in what has become a thankless and in

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Speaker 1: some cases dangerous, fucking profession to try and keep the

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Speaker 1: rest of us safe. And I think, you know, my God,

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Speaker 1: that I wasn't crossing my fingers and toes and praying

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Speaker 1: that like that I wasn't going to die. You know,

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Speaker 1: I explained to all of you back in twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: that I did lose my step grandmother, who you know,

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Speaker 1: was a vibrant, seventy something year old woman who contracted

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Speaker 1: COVID and within three weeks she had left us within

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Speaker 1: you know, a few days of having developed symptoms, had

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Speaker 1: a fever that wouldn't quit, that was over a hundred degrees,

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Speaker 1: and rushed to the hospital, tried valiantly to stay off

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Speaker 1: of a ventilator because as a former health worker herself,

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Speaker 1: she knew where that was going to lead. And then

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Speaker 1: in a few weeks was gone. She didn't get the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to get the shots in her arm. She didn't

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Speaker 1: get the opportunity to you know, be a beneficiary of

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Speaker 1: science and knowledge and research. And so, you know, as

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Speaker 1: I laid on the couch and I was thinking about that,

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Speaker 1: and thankfully that my friend had told me, you know,

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Speaker 1: to stop feeling sorry for myself. That I started to,

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Speaker 1: you know, gain perspective. And so I just say to

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Speaker 1: all of you, sometimes we are just so in our

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Speaker 1: own ships, so in our own stuff, that it is

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Speaker 1: really difficult to kind of climb out of it. And

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Speaker 1: that's why it is important to have community, family, friends,

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Speaker 1: people who care about us, who can see us spiraling

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Speaker 1: and struggling and say, hey, I need you to take

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Speaker 1: a breath. I need you to take a minute. I

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Speaker 1: need you to focus on the good things that are

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Speaker 1: in front of you right now. I need you to

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Speaker 1: realize that like, yes, you may physically be alone in

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Speaker 1: your apartment, but you can be on FaceTime in a

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Speaker 1: blink of an eye with any number of people who

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Speaker 1: will be happy to sit on the phone with you,

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Speaker 1: so that you are not feeling alone and feeling down.

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Speaker 1: And I say that, you know, because we talk a

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Speaker 1: lot on woke f about mental health and emotional health

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Speaker 1: and wellness. And you know, as the statistics which I

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Speaker 1: mentioned yesterday too are coming out that are talking about,

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Speaker 1: you know, the well being of our children in this

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Speaker 1: country not being so fucking great. Right that we've talked about,

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Speaker 1: you know, the ambient stress that is just running consistently

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Speaker 1: in our heads. We've talked about languishing, that feeling that

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Speaker 1: isn't quite depression but isn't real happiness and is somewhere

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Speaker 1: in between. We've talked about the fact that people are

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Speaker 1: being heavily medicated for their their feelings of despair. You know,

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Speaker 1: yesterday was scrolling through Instagram and I came across this

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Speaker 1: story of this, you know, young rapper, young black man

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Speaker 1: and his girlfriend who at I think she maybe thirty two,

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Speaker 1: just recently committed suicide. She was an influencer on social media,

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Speaker 1: and he shared with the world on his Instagram page

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Speaker 1: her message, her last message to him. And I got

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Speaker 1: to tell you that when I got to the end

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Speaker 1: of it, I was in tears because the pain that

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Speaker 1: this young woman was feeling, the loneliness, the grief, the

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Speaker 1: feeling that she just did not belong in this world

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Speaker 1: and no longer wanted to pretend. She said, so many

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Speaker 1: people are suffering alone, and I just want us all

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Speaker 1: to be mindful that having gratitude or quote unquote being

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Speaker 1: happy isn't something that just happens right. It isn't happiness

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Speaker 1: doesn't fall in our laps. It's something that nowadays, in particular,

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Speaker 1: we just really need to be intentional about our happiness,

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Speaker 1: be mindful of our mental and emotional well being, and

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Speaker 1: if we're finding ourselves in moments of spiraling and despair,

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Speaker 1: to reach out and if you have no one around

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Speaker 1: you to reach out to, to reach out to. Hotlines.

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Speaker 1: Organizations are set up out there so that we don't

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Speaker 1: feel alone, that there is a voice on the other

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Speaker 1: end of our phone. And so it was just something

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Speaker 1: that I have been thinking about and wanting to share

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Speaker 1: that I understand when people were talking about the real

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Speaker 1: loneliness that quarantine and COVID were kind of producing during

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Speaker 1: this time where when I was in you know, in

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Speaker 1: the shutdown, I wasn't alone. I was with my family.

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Speaker 1: And I tell you that if I had been alone

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Speaker 1: in this apartment, I probably would have gone mad. Because

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Speaker 1: it's only been ten days that I have been in here,

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Speaker 1: and you know, and I'm still able to put on

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Speaker 1: a mask and go for a walk, and you know,

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Speaker 1: and have this time where I am physically still around

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Speaker 1: people while remaining safe and distanced from them. So I

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Speaker 1: just say to folks, the times are really hard, they

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Speaker 1: show no signs of getting any better, and so please,

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Speaker 1: you know, reach out to people and if you have

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Speaker 1: no you know, community, go to hotlines, go to organizations,

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Speaker 1: and recognize that there are people that are there and

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Speaker 1: trained to to help you. So that's my offering and

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Speaker 1: my reflection on COVID. Hey, I'm David. Plots of Slights.

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Speaker 1: Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, it can be

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Speaker 1: tricky to sort through all the noise and the news.

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Speaker 1: Each week on The Gapfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlon and

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Speaker 1: I decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell

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Speaker 1: you what issues really matter. We do not always agree.

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Speaker 1: We definitely do not always agree, but we always deliver

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Speaker 1: thoughtful debate and we always have a good time. So

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Speaker 1: subscribe to Slate's Political Gapfest, new episodes every Thursday. Get

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Speaker 1: up behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily

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Speaker 1: Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from the

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Speaker 1: Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood

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Speaker 1: Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from

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Speaker 1: the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to

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Speaker 1: tackle current topics from gent location to gun laws. And

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Speaker 1: take a closer look at how and why these topics matter.

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Speaker 1: Listen to Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with

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Speaker 1: Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcast, new episodes every Tuesday, switching gears.

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Speaker 1: With all this time that I've had on my hands,

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Speaker 1: I have finally gotten back into writing, and I wrote

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Speaker 1: a piece recently that I want to share with all

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Speaker 1: of you because we are god damn sixty some odd

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Speaker 1: days away from midterm elections, and I got to tell

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Speaker 1: you that the news that has been coming out with

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Speaker 1: regard to the changes that have been happening at CNN,

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Speaker 1: news reports coming out about the owner of Politico who

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Speaker 1: was calling colleagues over to pray for Donald Trump on

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Speaker 1: election night, CNN has decided to throw out their seasoned

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Speaker 1: journalists and bring on a bunch of Trumpers because they

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Speaker 1: want to be fucking quote unquote neutral. And what that

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Speaker 1: signals to me, as I'm certain to all of you,

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Speaker 1: is that the media hasn't learned a fucking thing. They

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Speaker 1: haven't learned Dick from twenty sixteen. They haven't learned a

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Speaker 1: fucking thing from twenty twenty, and they are going to

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Speaker 1: all but fucking solidify the end of our democracy with

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Speaker 1: their degreed, their fucking greed, the desire for ratings and

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Speaker 1: more money and ads right at the expense of telling

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Speaker 1: the American people the truth. So I wrote a piece

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Speaker 1: that is up at Medium right now. I've shared it

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Speaker 1: on both my Instagram and on Twitter, and it is

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Speaker 1: entitled the Fourth Estate is Crumbling. If not for the

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Speaker 1: Press Center, Joe McCarthy's desire to purge UnAmericans would have succeeded.

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Speaker 1: Nixon's treachery wouldn't have been revealed. So I want to

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Speaker 1: share this piece with all of you today and in

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Speaker 1: hopes that you will head over to medium dot com,

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Speaker 1: find it, and share it with at least one other person,

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Speaker 1: because it is important for us that the more woke

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Speaker 1: and conscious that we become, that we bring other people

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Speaker 1: along with us and make sure that they are aware

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Speaker 1: that there are forces at play that are trying to

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Speaker 1: make certain that you don't wake up, that you get

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Speaker 1: as much misinformation as possible, and without a strong, free,

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Speaker 1: independent press, our democracy is fucked. So here I go.

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Speaker 1: Over the last six years, American politics has undergo gone

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Speaker 1: a transformation unlike anything we have seen in the modern era.

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Speaker 1: To put this into context, consider that for over two

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty years, America has been able to sustain

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Speaker 1: its political designation as the world's foremost democracy. Through a

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Speaker 1: civil war, two World Wars, the Cold War, and too

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Speaker 1: many lesser wars in between, this nation has been able

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Speaker 1: to maintain the illusion of democracy, a beacon, a dream

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Speaker 1: of freedom worth risking life and limb to attain. At

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Speaker 1: the age of five years old, Americans begin to pledge

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Speaker 1: allegiance to the flag, to salute the red, white, and blue,

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Speaker 1: and recite our obedience and with it our solemn vow

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Speaker 1: to uphold principles of being one nation under God, indivisible

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Speaker 1: with liberty and justice for all. That is, of course,

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Speaker 1: until January sixth, twenty twenty one, when we saw that

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Speaker 1: very same flag, the one that we had seen planted

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Speaker 1: on the moon and on fields of battle, used as

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Speaker 1: a weapon to break into the Capitol building as an

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Speaker 1: attempt to overthrow the very government and country citizens swore

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Speaker 1: to protect. As the capital was engulfed in a plume

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Speaker 1: of smoke, being defaced by a group of white domestic

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Speaker 1: terrorists that were weaponized by their commander in chief. The

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Speaker 1: eyes of countless journalists dispatched to cover one of America's

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Speaker 1: darkest days since the Civil War revealed the absolute horror

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Speaker 1: millions of Americans felt that day. We knew, as we

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Speaker 1: were watching this siege unfold, that history was indeed in

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Speaker 1: the making. It would be the responsibility of the Fourth

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Speaker 1: Estate to place into words the utter mayhem and disgrace

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Speaker 1: that besieged our capital. Since the beginning of this nation,

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Speaker 1: a free and unencumbered press has been essential to holding

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Speaker 1: elected officials accountable for their actions and keeping the citizenury informed.

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Speaker 1: A free press is the essential marker and distinction that

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Speaker 1: separates the world's democracies from dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. And yet,

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Speaker 1: over the course of the last six years, not only

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Speaker 1: have we watched our nation grapple with a global health

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Speaker 1: pandemic whose catastrophic grip could have been avoided, and a

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Speaker 1: racial uprising, but we have also witnessed one of the

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Speaker 1: country's major political parties profess their allegiance not to the

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Speaker 1: flag or the nation, but instead a man. If America

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Speaker 1: were any other country, the free press would be unrelenting

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Speaker 1: in its coverage of a nation on the brink, particularly

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Speaker 1: when for the first time in its history. The International

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Speaker 1: Ideas Global State of Democracy Report labeled the United States,

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Speaker 1: and this was back in twenty twenty one, a backsliding democracy.

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Speaker 1: Many knew the direction that this country would head towards

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Speaker 1: when the Republican Party anointed Donald J. Trump as its leader,

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Speaker 1: a man known all too well for his greed, his racism,

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Speaker 1: and his lies. However, what makes good TV turns out

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Speaker 1: doesn't translate to making good government or a secure democracy. Quote.

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Speaker 1: While journalism plays various roles in society, perhaps its most

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Speaker 1: important is how it serves as a bridge of information

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Speaker 1: from the government to the common citizen, wrote Nathan to

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Speaker 1: Sando in the ut Daily Beacon. This bridge, however, is

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Speaker 1: now under assault. Donald J. Trump became president in large

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Speaker 1: part because of the willful ignorance of the free press

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Speaker 1: to the danger he presented to the republic. While media

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Speaker 1: outlets clamored for clicks the advent of showcasing quote, both

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Speaker 1: sides became their hallmark for providing a microphone and ink

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Speaker 1: to one of the most egregious political figures this country

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Speaker 1: has ever seen. While the forefathers of this nation had

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Speaker 1: keen insight into the hearts of men, they didn't care

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Speaker 1: too much for the thoughts of women. Nothing could have

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Speaker 1: prepared them for this, except the assumption that a free

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Speaker 1: press would bring to the people what it had since

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Speaker 1: the beginning of time, the truth. Sadly, there is nothing

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Speaker 1: truly free about a press that has fallen to privatization

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Speaker 1: and capitalism. Why let the truth get in the way

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Speaker 1: of a good clique. We bore witness as the revolving

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Speaker 1: door at the Trump White House as it dumped its

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Speaker 1: many pervators on the doorsteps of once reputable outlets, all

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Speaker 1: in their faue quest for the appearance of neutrality while

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Speaker 1: giving voice and credence to the rhetoric that is held

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Speaker 1: bent on destroying everything the forefathers imagined, including and most importantly,

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Speaker 1: a free and informative press. If not for the press,

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Speaker 1: Senator Joe McCarthy's desire to purge on Americans would have succeeded,

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Speaker 1: Nixon's treachery wouldn't have been revealed, and so on. Yet,

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Speaker 1: now we find ourselves at a crossroads, as media outlets

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Speaker 1: are being purchased like pieces on a monopoly board by

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Speaker 1: white ring extremists who are using the veil of neutrality

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Speaker 1: to place bad actors in positions of power, providing them

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Speaker 1: with the platform to lie to tens of millions. The

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Speaker 1: ability to suss out the truth is becoming almost impossible

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Speaker 1: for the average citizen. The time for neutrality has long

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Speaker 1: since passed. It should have ended the day that Donald J.

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Speaker 1: Trump bragged about sexual assault and referred to Mexicans as rapist.

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Speaker 1: Now Here we are with a former twice impeached ex

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Speaker 1: president with classified nuclear documents scattered on his Morilogal office floor,

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Speaker 1: eyeing a potential run for the presidency in twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 1: with the press ready to launch America into authoritarianism. If

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Speaker 1: the Fourth Estate doesn't wake up soon his inauguration in

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Speaker 1: January twenty twenty five, maybe the last story they write. Quote.

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Speaker 1: Journalism can never be silent. That is its greatest virtue

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Speaker 1: and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately

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Speaker 1: while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph, and

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Speaker 1: the signs of horror are still in the air. Henry Grunwald,

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Speaker 1: former editor in chief of Time magazine folks I felt

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Speaker 1: compelled to write about the Fourth Estate because I am

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Speaker 1: a part of it. No, I am not a quote

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Speaker 1: unquote trained journalist. I did not go to school for journalism.

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Speaker 1: I went to school for politics and for education. But

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Speaker 1: as a host of two podcasts, a writer, a television commentator,

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Speaker 1: I find it not only my responsibility, but my duty

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Speaker 1: to tell the American people the truth. Anytime that I

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Speaker 1: am asked to go on TV, I don't think about

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Speaker 1: who will follow me, what clicks will I get, or worse,

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Speaker 1: what hate mail and potential death threats could I get.

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Speaker 1: I think about the person that is standing in their

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Speaker 1: kitchen multitasking, probably with a laptop on the kitchen table,

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Speaker 1: while they're making dinner, tending to pets and children or plants,

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Speaker 1: going about their day to day, trying to keep their

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Speaker 1: head above water, And I think about what I can

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Speaker 1: say that will stop them dead in their tracks and

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Speaker 1: have them imagine the freedoms that they have enjoyed up

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Speaker 1: until this moment disappear. I want to stop them dead

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Speaker 1: in their tracks and recite the many reasons why rage

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Speaker 1: should be flowing through their veins just as easy as

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Speaker 1: blood is. Because their country, the one that we were

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Speaker 1: taught to swear allegiance to, is under attack. No, there

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Speaker 1: aren't a currently tanks rolling down our streets or bombs

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Speaker 1: bursting in the air. Yet, but there are people working

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes, tirelessly, unrelenting to destroy everything that we

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Speaker 1: have come to understand and want to perfect about this union.

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Speaker 1: And if the papers, the blogs, the websites, the social

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Speaker 1: media platforms are all commingling to keep the wool over

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Speaker 1: our eyes, then it is the responsibility of those of

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Speaker 1: us that are living with our eyes wide open to

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Speaker 1: tell people the truth over and over and over again

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Speaker 1: until they wake the fuck up. Our story does not

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Speaker 1: have to end here, much like in relationships that go

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Speaker 1: through rough times or marriages that have rough patches, With

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Speaker 1: the right help, right with the commitment, it can be thick.

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Speaker 1: And so the question that I have for our media

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Speaker 1: is do they have a commitment to the destruction of

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Speaker 1: our democracy? And if they don't, then recognize that neutrality

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Speaker 1: is dead. That neutrality is nothing more than making the

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Speaker 1: conscious decision to look the other way so that you

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Speaker 1: do not offend those that seek to destroy others. We

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Speaker 1: have control, dear friends, because without our eyeballs, without our dollars,

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Speaker 1: they cease to exist. So if we want our voices

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Speaker 1: to be heard, raise them loud and often. That is

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Speaker 1: it for me today, Dear friends on Woke f as

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Speaker 1: always Power to the people and to all the people. Power,

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Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fun. Get a behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on

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Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show

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Speaker 1: with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes

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Speaker 1: deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy

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Speaker 1: Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current

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Speaker 1: topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer

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Speaker 1: look at how and why these topics matter. Listen to

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Speaker 1: Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah

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Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get

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00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 1: your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday.