Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to okay F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from our podstream
Speaker 1: studios here in Times Square. You know, folks, I want
Speaker 1: to start out because usually I am always beating at
Speaker 1: cable news and their lack of transparency, their lack of
Speaker 1: connecting the dots for audience members, and just you know,
Speaker 1: continuing to go on with the same old, same old,
Speaker 1: even though we are living in what I will continue
Speaker 1: to say the craziest times that I have ever seen
Speaker 1: in my life. You know, this week it was really
Speaker 1: interesting for the first time during hurricane coverage. Now we
Speaker 1: know that Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana in the worst possible way.
Speaker 1: Over a million people have lost power in New Orleans
Speaker 1: and surrounding areas as the storm continues to move in
Speaker 1: and around the south. That is, in Mississippi, as we
Speaker 1: know right now, it hit landfall as a category four.
Speaker 1: What we know right when we're talking about all of
Speaker 1: these natural disasters, all of these storms, every time we
Speaker 1: get to hurricane season, fire season, tornado season, and what
Speaker 1: have you, is that when it is being covered right,
Speaker 1: we will talk about wind gusts and we will talk
Speaker 1: about damage, and we will talk about how much money
Speaker 1: it is going to take, and we will talk about FEMA.
Speaker 1: But do you know the one thing that we never
Speaker 1: talk about, fucking climate change. We never talk about how
Speaker 1: the increase in damage and the increase that these storms
Speaker 1: are packing, right, the winds that they are packing, how
Speaker 1: they hover over warm water for long periods of time,
Speaker 1: how they are building enormous strength. We never talk about
Speaker 1: climate change. And it's almost as if I feel like
Speaker 1: there has to be some unspoken or maybe spoken right
Speaker 1: commandment with meteorologists and whether people that we just are
Speaker 1: not allowed to mention it because it will be seemed
Speaker 1: too political, because the media has allowed us to have
Speaker 1: a two sides of both sides is um to literally
Speaker 1: every fucking issue, including one that is an existential threat
Speaker 1: to our planet, which is climate change. There is nothing, folks,
Speaker 1: There is no other major issue other than, oh, I
Speaker 1: don't know, the collapse of our democracy, which I'll get
Speaker 1: to in a moment, that is more pressing right now
Speaker 1: than climate change. But for the first time, at least
Speaker 1: since I have been paying attention and kind of waiting
Speaker 1: for those two words to be mentioned when we are
Speaker 1: covering storms al Roker on MSNBC when he was reporting
Speaker 1: on Andrea Mitchell this week, said Andrea, and I cannot
Speaker 1: stress this enough. This is climate change in action. This
Speaker 1: is a major climate change event. I damn near stop
Speaker 1: dead in my tracks as he said this, because I
Speaker 1: know and I've been watching Al Roker since I was
Speaker 1: a kid, and I believe him. I believe his reporting,
Speaker 1: I believe his passion, and I believe in his ability
Speaker 1: to bring events into people's homes. When he said this
Speaker 1: is a climate event, I'm like, this is the kind
Speaker 1: of coverage that we need, right. These are not just
Speaker 1: regular hurricanes anymore. They are packing punches that we have
Speaker 1: never seen. And it showing us, right, a couple of things.
Speaker 1: It's showing us how fucking inept our infrastructure is to
Speaker 1: deal with these kinds of damaging storms which are becoming
Speaker 1: the norm. It is showing us the fact that, again,
Speaker 1: what was very interesting in this coverage as well is
Speaker 1: another reporter, and forgive me because I can't remember their name,
Speaker 1: but also on NBC said this, the wealthy, those with
Speaker 1: resources were able to get out of harm's way before
Speaker 1: anyone else. Everyone else that did not have the ability
Speaker 1: to pack up their cars to fly out, to pack
Speaker 1: up their homes, maybe to go to family, or go
Speaker 1: to their second homes or what have you. Everyone else
Speaker 1: was left in harm's way. They were left in you
Speaker 1: evacuation centers in stadiums like they were during Hurricane Katrina.
Speaker 1: But we are also looking at a catastrophe that is
Speaker 1: of capitalism, right, is of the way in which our
Speaker 1: racial wealth gap, our wealth gap in general in this country,
Speaker 1: will have those right that are left behind when we
Speaker 1: have these major events, those that can pack up their
Speaker 1: homes and can go elsewhere because they have the means
Speaker 1: to do so, and then everyone else that will be
Speaker 1: left behind. Climate change is also illuminating those grave disparities
Speaker 1: that we have in income in this country. And I
Speaker 1: appreciated the honesty in the reporting of why these things
Speaker 1: things are happening. And again, this is the media's responsibility
Speaker 1: not to be neutral, right, but to offer people the
Speaker 1: truth and then context of that truth, right, because we
Speaker 1: always ask ourselves, well, why didn't so and so leave
Speaker 1: or why do you live in this area? Well, why
Speaker 1: do they live in areas that are prone to flooding
Speaker 1: or prone to tornadoes or what have you? Because it's
Speaker 1: fucking cheap, and it's what they can afford, right, But
Speaker 1: then you have insurance companies that come in, they gouge
Speaker 1: these people, and then when they need to rebuild, insurance
Speaker 1: companies turn around and say, well, I think that that
Speaker 1: water damage in your home isn't due to the flooding,
Speaker 1: but is due to something else, And then they turn
Speaker 1: around and don't provide people with the resources that they
Speaker 1: need in order to rebuild. What we also know is
Speaker 1: that these storms are increasing the amount of money that
Speaker 1: we have to pay, right our tax dollars to rebuild.
Speaker 1: So the ignoring of climate chains isn't just like just
Speaker 1: feeding into this threat, but it is also coming out
Speaker 1: of our fucking pockets, folks, because we can't prepare for
Speaker 1: things that we pretend don't fucking exist. And this is
Speaker 1: what drives me insane. If at the end of the day, right,
Speaker 1: you're the Jim Crow Republican Party, and all you give
Speaker 1: a fuck about is money and cruelty, right or the
Speaker 1: not spending of money, or who gets more money so
Speaker 1: that you can ensure that those that are poor remain
Speaker 1: on the bottom. If money is your end all be all,
Speaker 1: then why wouldn't it make sense for us to look
Speaker 1: at climate change as an economic threat as well as
Speaker 1: an existential one, right, and say that we do not
Speaker 1: have the resources each and every fucking season as these
Speaker 1: seasons get extended because our climate is getting warmer, which
Speaker 1: means that hurricane seasons and fire seasons are going to
Speaker 1: last longer than they have in the past, which means
Speaker 1: that they're going to cost more money, billions upon billions
Speaker 1: upon billions of fucking dollars that our government does not have.
Speaker 1: And when I say that it doesn't have, right, it's because, well,
Speaker 1: we like to spend money and give tax breaks and
Speaker 1: spend money on military and things like that that don't
Speaker 1: actually benefit the rest of us on a regular basis. Right,
Speaker 1: So we know that maybe there is money, but we
Speaker 1: know that it's never going to be spent in the
Speaker 1: right place. And what I'm saying is that every time
Speaker 1: these storms come around, we have got to pay attention
Speaker 1: to the rhetoric that is being used to describe them
Speaker 1: and what is happening to these people after the fact.
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you for the first time,
Speaker 1: I will say, right, Bravo Andrea Mitchell Show, Bravo MSNBC
Speaker 1: for actually calling a spade a fucking spade, and I
Speaker 1: hope that this is what we will see moving forward.
Speaker 1: Coming up next is my conversation with the CEO of
Speaker 1: vote dot Org, Andrea Haley, who will talk to us
Speaker 1: about how the organisation is trying to push back against
Speaker 1: all of the misinformation and mis education about voting and
Speaker 1: where you can get the information that you need to
Speaker 1: make sure that you remain on the roles right and
Speaker 1: that you are able to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
Speaker 1: That conversation is coming to you next, folks. I am
Speaker 1: very excited to be joined by Andrea Haley, who is
Speaker 1: the CEO of vote dot org, the leading nonpartisan online
Speaker 1: voter information organization. Andrea, you know, this past weekend was
Speaker 1: the fifty eighth anniversary of the March on Washington, and
Speaker 1: you know eight years ago when it was the fiftieth anniversary,
Speaker 1: I had the wonderful pleasure of being on the mall
Speaker 1: for that, you know, that historic number marker. You know,
Speaker 1: this past weekend we see voting rights marches happening. You
Speaker 1: know across the country. What part did vote dot org
Speaker 1: play in this historic moment? And also what are you
Speaker 1: reminded about with your work with this notable anniversary. You know,
Speaker 1: this year, vote dot org partnered with all of the
Speaker 1: voting marches across the nation. We were really you know,
Speaker 1: excited to be able to celebrate the anniversary and celebrate
Speaker 1: how far would come. But of course we know how
Speaker 1: much work there's left to do, so we're out there
Speaker 1: registering people to vote. We pushed over one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: people and emails to learn about the marches to either
Speaker 1: attend or to um be able to you know, go
Speaker 1: online and watch if it couldn't attend in person one
Speaker 1: of the marches UM And so that is a lot
Speaker 1: of the way that we've partnered in. We also provide
Speaker 1: QR codes and other things so that people at the
Speaker 1: marches can make sure that they're registered to vote, check
Speaker 1: their registration, UM, do all that and go to vote
Speaker 1: dot org. I think one of the the opportunities that
Speaker 1: we have now, building on this momentum, is to make
Speaker 1: sure that people know that there's something they can actively
Speaker 1: do right here, right now about the moment we find
Speaker 1: ourselves in. The moment we find ourselves in is really challenging,
Speaker 1: it's very dire. But we have two pieces of federal legislation.
Speaker 1: The John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the
Speaker 1: People Act that will help address some of the inequities
Speaker 1: in our voting processes. And so what people can do
Speaker 1: is they can call their senator. They can go to
Speaker 1: vote dot org backslash action where we've set up a
Speaker 1: page where it makes it really easy to call your
Speaker 1: senator and say that your support voting rights and support
Speaker 1: the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Four the
Speaker 1: People Act. You know, we are headed obviously into midterm
Speaker 1: elections in twenty twenty two. And for folks who believed,
Speaker 1: you know, they've cast their ballot in twenty twenty, what
Speaker 1: are the steps that you are telling them with vote
Speaker 1: dot org that they need to do in order to
Speaker 1: make sure that they are still registered right that they
Speaker 1: weren't vote a booted off the role, Like, can you
Speaker 1: walk us through that process? I voted in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I hit up vote dot org because I know that
Speaker 1: there are new changes being made. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure that I am secure when I want to go
Speaker 1: cast my mid term ballot. What are the steps that
Speaker 1: folks are taking and need to take, you know, Kurtiscott
Speaker 1: King said that freedom was never really never won. Every
Speaker 1: generation has to fight for it on their own, and
Speaker 1: I think that that's the moment we find ourselves in.
Speaker 1: So what people can do is they can make sure
Speaker 1: to fight for their vote, fight to make sure that
Speaker 1: they're on the voter rolls, that they're paying attention to
Speaker 1: what's happening in their state, and that they are able
Speaker 1: to participate in this upcoming election. Luckily, you know for
Speaker 1: our generation that we have new technologies accessible to us.
Speaker 1: So right there on your phone, it takes two seconds.
Speaker 1: You can go to vote dot org and you can
Speaker 1: verify that you're still on voter roles. I personally do
Speaker 1: that every couple of months, just to make sure we
Speaker 1: have systems that are purging people. And you don't want
Speaker 1: to get surprised on election day. You want to know
Speaker 1: that you're on the roles and keep confirming it and
Speaker 1: fight to make sure that your voice is heard. So
Speaker 1: just go to your phone and do that. It really
Speaker 1: takes a couple of seconds. If you are not registered
Speaker 1: or you've been purged from the voter rolls, votorg will
Speaker 1: tell you and then you can go ahead and go
Speaker 1: through the registration process. Right there on the site. We
Speaker 1: know that it's better to do all these things early
Speaker 1: and make your plans early to vote, and that that
Speaker 1: will mean that you will have increased participation. And so
Speaker 1: register on the site and then if you're you know,
Speaker 1: make a plan, think about how you want to participate.
Speaker 1: Follow the laws in your state. You can just press
Speaker 1: you know, whatever state you're on, you're in vote org
Speaker 1: and we give you you know, the laws, what you
Speaker 1: need to know anything that's changing, make sure to just
Speaker 1: periodically check it. And especially as we you know, start
Speaker 1: to near these midterm elections. A lot of people out there,
Speaker 1: I think now our country is really divided into two groups.
Speaker 1: It's people who believe we should have a healthy and
Speaker 1: thriving democracy, people who believe everyone should have their voice heard,
Speaker 1: people who you believe that people in communities should be
Speaker 1: able to have a say and who their leaders are.
Speaker 1: And then we have a group of people out there
Speaker 1: who don't believe in that, who believe in some more
Speaker 1: you know, authoritarian kind of style of government. So it's
Speaker 1: really important that people right now fight to make sure
Speaker 1: that they can preserve their right to vote, because that's
Speaker 1: that's truly where we are. So you know, make sure
Speaker 1: verify or registration, make a plan, keep checking vote dot org,
Speaker 1: know what's happening in your state. And once you do
Speaker 1: all of that, make sure that you're the vote captain
Speaker 1: of your friends or family. I love that is that
Speaker 1: is the most I call all my friends and family.
Speaker 1: I let them know what the rules are, what they
Speaker 1: need to do, you know, self, appoint yourself vote captain,
Speaker 1: and make sure that those in your community know how
Speaker 1: to participate, pay and know how to have their voice heard.
Speaker 1: What do you say to folks? And I'm sure you
Speaker 1: talk to people all the time, but what do you
Speaker 1: say to people who are losing faith in the system,
Speaker 1: who are like, well, what difference does it make? Andrea?
Speaker 1: Why should I, you know, bother voting? Like, look a
Speaker 1: look at what they're doing, you know, to this country.
Speaker 1: Look at what they're doing to the polls. What do
Speaker 1: you say to those people that are seemingly losing some hope?
Speaker 1: I say, get mad, exhaustion and all of that. That's
Speaker 1: the point. The point of all of this is to
Speaker 1: wear you down to the point where you think, what
Speaker 1: does it matter? What does my vote? How does my
Speaker 1: vote count? And get you to give up. That's what
Speaker 1: these bills are designed to do. That's what creating extra
Speaker 1: hoops for voters is designed to do. And you know,
Speaker 1: I say, like, there's a reason for that. The reason
Speaker 1: is that people want to take away your ability to
Speaker 1: choose what's happening in your own neighborhood, town, community, city, state,
Speaker 1: and nation. You know it. Giving up your own power
Speaker 1: is something that you never really want to do. And
Speaker 1: not voting doesn't mean that, you know, you just aren't
Speaker 1: participating in the process. It means somebody else gets to
Speaker 1: actively dictate what happens to you, your friends, your family,
Speaker 1: and your community. And so I say, I would say,
Speaker 1: don't give up that power, get upset, make sure you're
Speaker 1: protecting the right to vote. And this is something that's
Speaker 1: really important. If it wasn't important, we know that people
Speaker 1: wouldn't be working so so hard to exhaust you out
Speaker 1: of the process. There wouldn't be four hundred bills across
Speaker 1: this nation, you know, trying to separate people from their
Speaker 1: vote and from their voice. We know this is absolutely important.
Speaker 1: This is where true you know, power lies. And so
Speaker 1: we have to have the ability to fight back and
Speaker 1: to show up anyway and to show people that we
Speaker 1: are not tired, we are not going to stop. We're
Speaker 1: going to show up every single election cycle, and we're
Speaker 1: going to protect our right and our freedom to vote.
Speaker 1: That is it for Today's Woke, a f daily podcast.
Speaker 1: To hear more from today's show, including my full interview
Speaker 1: with Andrea Haley, support me on Patreon at patreon dot
Speaker 1: com slash woke AF Power to the people and to
Speaker 1: all the people power, get woke, and stay woke as fuck.