WEBVTT - Texas Bars Sue Gov. Greg Abbot Over Closures

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday, July two. I'm oscar A Mirrors from the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>Several Texas bar owners have filed a lawsuit against Governor

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<v Speaker 1>Greg Abbott over his order to shut down bars for

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<v Speaker 1>a second time since the pandemic began. Bar owners feel

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<v Speaker 1>like they're being unfairly targeted when restaurants that serve alcohol

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<v Speaker 1>can remain open and other businesses can continue to operate.

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<v Speaker 1>Bars are especially vulnerable because people tend to gather in

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<v Speaker 1>close quarters for extended periods of time. There's poor air ventilation,

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<v Speaker 1>and virus particles can spread with people speaking loudly. Sarah Blaskovic,

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at the Dallas Morning News, joins us for more.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Sarah, Thank you. There's several Texas

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<v Speaker 1>bar owners that have filed a lawsuit against Governor Greg

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<v Speaker 1>Abbott protesting against the shutdowns. Basically, there's actually bars all

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<v Speaker 1>across the country that are being shut down in response

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<v Speaker 1>to coronavirus. California is another one where the governor is

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<v Speaker 1>shutting down the bars. It's just kind of this hotbed

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<v Speaker 1>of spread. They think you're in tight quarters. People are

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<v Speaker 1>talking very loudly, and they're saying that this is where

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus is spreading in the state like Texas, where it's

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<v Speaker 1>kind of becoming this hotspot. Right now, this action is

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<v Speaker 1>being taken by the governor. So there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>bars that are filing this lawsuit right now. Sarah tell

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<v Speaker 1>us about it. How are the bar owners feeling about

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<v Speaker 1>all this. There's a group of they say, more than

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<v Speaker 1>thirty bar owners in Dallas for Worth and some of

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<v Speaker 1>its suburbs, and they feel unfairly targeted. So their idea

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<v Speaker 1>here is that sitting in a bar while following social

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<v Speaker 1>distancing guidelines isn't different than sitting in a restaurant. Yet

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<v Speaker 1>their bar can't be open and a restaurant can. So

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<v Speaker 1>what they told me when I interviewed them for the

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<v Speaker 1>Dallas Wearing News is that they're asking for fair treatment

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<v Speaker 1>in this lawsuit. If restaurants can be open at fifty

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<v Speaker 1>perspect capacity, Let's say they want bars to be open

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<v Speaker 1>at fifty persec capacity. And instead what has happened is

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<v Speaker 1>the governor has shut down all bars that sell fifty

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<v Speaker 1>or more of their growth sales receipts are from alcohol.

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<v Speaker 1>So basically a majority of their sales come from boots,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's an interesting dilemma for these people because they

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<v Speaker 1>can't make any money. Most of these places don't do

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<v Speaker 1>take out either because the majority of or all of

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<v Speaker 1>their business is from alcohol. And they just say it's

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<v Speaker 1>not fair, and some of the reasoning that they're using,

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<v Speaker 1>it's tough to really make your case on all of this.

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<v Speaker 1>They're comparing themselves to nail salons and barbershops and saying, well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, some of these places have so much more

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<v Speaker 1>points of contact with people that they have the same

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<v Speaker 1>amount of risk, or maybe even more. But part of

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<v Speaker 1>it is not really that part. It's not the contact

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily from the business owners. It's the people because they're

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<v Speaker 1>congregating in these places. And we've heard more about how

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<v Speaker 1>coronavirus spreads, and it's in places with that air ventilation,

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<v Speaker 1>sitting with people for long periods of time, talking loudly,

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<v Speaker 1>spreading the virus that way. It's those ways that the

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<v Speaker 1>IRUs is spreading. So that's why bars are being targeted

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<v Speaker 1>in this. The bar owners I talked to say that

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<v Speaker 1>they're following the same rules as everybody else, so they

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<v Speaker 1>suggest that there aren't people elbow to elbow at the

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<v Speaker 1>bars like there would have been six months ago. They

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<v Speaker 1>say that bars have tables too, and that they can

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<v Speaker 1>move their tables six ft apart. Now, whether they're actually

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<v Speaker 1>doing that and whether patrons will follow what they say

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<v Speaker 1>is a whole different deal. And we've seen a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of news reports and some politicians have said young people

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<v Speaker 1>are the ones who are spreading this because they're hanging

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<v Speaker 1>out in bars too close to one another. And whether

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<v Speaker 1>that's true or not, it's really really hard to prove.

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<v Speaker 1>These bar owners say, we're not doing those things, and

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<v Speaker 1>yet we still can't make money. The lawsuit is a

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<v Speaker 1>ten million dollar federal lawsuit. They're looking for some damages there,

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<v Speaker 1>but they're also looking for an injunction to the order.

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<v Speaker 1>What have they said about the order itself? Because the

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<v Speaker 1>governor in a few days, maybe after the fourth of

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<v Speaker 1>July weekend and say okay, you know, bars can open

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<v Speaker 1>back up again or something like that, and going through

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<v Speaker 1>the lawsuit is a pretty lengthy process, a difficult process

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<v Speaker 1>to what have they said regarding that the lawsuit you're

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<v Speaker 1>referring to is not in Dallas specifically, it's in another

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<v Speaker 1>part of Texas. But this shows us there's more than

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<v Speaker 1>one group of bar owners who are interested in suing

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<v Speaker 1>the governor and t ABC and other folks for this reason.

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<v Speaker 1>But sure, the lawyer I talked to who's going to

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<v Speaker 1>file the lawsuited Dallas Fort Worth this week, but he

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<v Speaker 1>hasn't done it quite yet. I asked him that exact question, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>what happens if this takes a year? And they basically

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<v Speaker 1>said they think it's the right thing to do because

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<v Speaker 1>they don't want to sit back and do nothing. So,

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<v Speaker 1>in fact, one bar owners quote was quote, We're not

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<v Speaker 1>willing to sit by idly while this happened. We won't

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<v Speaker 1>be treated unfairly. Now, realistically, will this come to pass

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<v Speaker 1>and change the governor's mind? That's probably not how the

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<v Speaker 1>legal systm is going to work in this way, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's a way that there they believe their voice is

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<v Speaker 1>getting heard. The bar industry in Texas employees over eight people.

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<v Speaker 1>I know that there's been a few protests from some

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<v Speaker 1>bar owners and people that work at them. How have

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<v Speaker 1>those played out? That has been really interesting here in

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<v Speaker 1>Texas in my opinion, and people are taking it in

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<v Speaker 1>different directions. We saw one bar in Burlston, Texas, which

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<v Speaker 1>is kind of near Fort Worth. The bar invited customers

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<v Speaker 1>out on Sunday afternoon to the parking lot and they

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<v Speaker 1>fed them water and cokes because they can't pour any

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol because bars are shut down. And those bar patrons

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<v Speaker 1>just held signs that said all kinds of stuff about

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<v Speaker 1>how they want to keep the bar open. Some of

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<v Speaker 1>those people were socially distanced as they held those signs.

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<v Speaker 1>Most of them were wearing masks. But that was how

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<v Speaker 1>that one bar dealt with it. Other bars, like we've

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<v Speaker 1>been talking about, have decided they want to be part

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<v Speaker 1>of the lawsuit. One bar in Richardson, Texas, which is

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<v Speaker 1>just north of Dallas, they just decided they were going

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<v Speaker 1>to stay open even though the governor said they couldn't,

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<v Speaker 1>and in fact posted that to Facebook, and so t ABC,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, came and shut

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<v Speaker 1>them down. You know, you can't stay open when the

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<v Speaker 1>governor says that you're shut down. The bar owners are

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<v Speaker 1>really reacting here in lots of different way. Yeah, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a tough situation. I know it's been very vocal there

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<v Speaker 1>in Texas, but this is happening across the country, and

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<v Speaker 1>I know bar owners are getting squeezed pretty tight on

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<v Speaker 1>all this. They're one of the first things that are

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<v Speaker 1>getting shut down all of this, and I know we

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<v Speaker 1>were reopening things and then it's like the whole pause

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<v Speaker 1>button hits and it's like when we're pausing you all

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<v Speaker 1>over again. But what are the bar owners doing to

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<v Speaker 1>comply with, you know, all the social distancing, especially like

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<v Speaker 1>in a small dive bar setting something like that. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's really tough to control the patrons. As you were

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<v Speaker 1>saying earlier. Right now in Texas, none of them can

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<v Speaker 1>be open. But in the last couple of weeks. I've

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<v Speaker 1>got one example. There's a bar called the Double Wide

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<v Speaker 1>in Dallas, and the owner sent a fair amount of

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<v Speaker 1>money to change the bar while they were shut down

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<v Speaker 1>in April, and so when she reopened just a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of weeks ago in June, there was a new garage

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<v Speaker 1>door where there used to be a wall so that

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<v Speaker 1>you could sit inside part of the bar, but it

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<v Speaker 1>was breezy, so that they could put that garage door

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<v Speaker 1>all the way up. The room where the garage door

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<v Speaker 1>was used to be a live music venue, and there's

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<v Speaker 1>no live music right now, and so instead they put

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<v Speaker 1>tables in there, so they can't have as many people

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<v Speaker 1>in bars, and they don't want them standing or sitting

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<v Speaker 1>at the bar near one another. But I start to

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<v Speaker 1>a whole bunch of bar owners outside of this lawsuit story,

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<v Speaker 1>who were really, it seemed to me, doing their best.

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<v Speaker 1>They're trying to comply with the CDC guidelines, they're keeping

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<v Speaker 1>within the lower occupancy percentages, and they're trying to make

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<v Speaker 1>money because a lot of them said, this is what

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<v Speaker 1>I do, this is my business, this is how I

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<v Speaker 1>feed my family, or this is what I love to do.

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<v Speaker 1>Um and now I can't. Sarah Blaskovich, reporter at the

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<v Speaker 1>Dallas Morning News, thank you very much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks nice to be here. I'm Ascar Ramirez and this

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<v Speaker 1>is reopening America. Don't forget effort today's big news stories.

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<v Speaker 1>You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every money through Friday. So follow us on our heart

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