Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host,
Speaker 1: Ramsey's job. He is rams this job, I am q Ward.
Speaker 1: You are tuned in to PA Civic Cipher. A whole
Speaker 1: lot to stick around for. Per usual, of course, we
Speaker 1: have to talk about the indictment of the former president
Speaker 1: of the United States. We didn't want to talk about that,
Speaker 1: but we have to, so we will. There's no getting
Speaker 1: away from it. That just kind of it's not really
Speaker 1: what we need to talk about, but it kind of
Speaker 1: is at the same time, because that's what's happening in
Speaker 1: this country, and so it'd be hard to al like
Speaker 1: it didn't happen, right, right, So the former president of
Speaker 1: the United States, no matter what his name is. So
Speaker 1: that's newsworthy exactly, and so we're gonna do that. And
Speaker 1: then for the second part of the show, we're gonna
Speaker 1: illuminate some double standards that we have seen. Let me
Speaker 1: see double standards all the time, but some double standards
Speaker 1: that are in some popular stories that we either haven't
Speaker 1: gotten to that we've wanted to touch on recently or
Speaker 1: that have come up this week. And so there's a
Speaker 1: lot of that, including the treatment of the former president.
Speaker 1: You can imagine if that was Obama might have played
Speaker 1: out slightly differently. But you know, we'll get in there.
Speaker 1: The news might be covering them a little differently too.
Speaker 1: We'll get there. And we're also going to be talking
Speaker 1: about Queen Khalifa. For those of you in California or
Speaker 1: otherwise familiar with the magical place called California, you may
Speaker 1: not know that California was named after a black woman.
Speaker 1: When I found that out, I thought that was incredible.
Speaker 1: And this isn't anything that is not well documented. You
Speaker 1: can research it yourself. It's just not common knowledge. So
Speaker 1: I can't wait to share that with you in our
Speaker 1: way black history fact, as well as some other really
Speaker 1: exciting things too, including a brand new bobab becoming a
Speaker 1: better ally, So stay tuned for that as long. But
Speaker 1: first and foremost, let's discuss some really exciting ebony excellence,
Speaker 1: shall we We shall? So Today's abny Excellence sponsored by
Speaker 1: Hip Hoplicly Media and this reading comes from afro Tech magazine.
Speaker 1: Victor Glover is set to become the first black man
Speaker 1: NASA sends to the moon. Now, if we don't applaud that,
Speaker 1: I don't know who will. Well, acro Tech obviously will.
Speaker 1: But man, what an awesome thing to be known for
Speaker 1: and to see happen.
Speaker 2: So sings pretty late in history for that to be
Speaker 2: a first steal about the same thing, but you know,
Speaker 2: better late than never.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know we've been to the Moon too, you know,
Speaker 1: so anyway, I'll read A new space exploration Artemis the
Speaker 1: second has been announced by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.
Speaker 1: It will include Commander Read Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Mission
Speaker 1: Specialist one Christina Hammock coach sorry, Coke, that's it, and
Speaker 1: mission specialists too, Jeremy Hansen, and a ten day flight test.
Speaker 1: They will prove that humans can live in space and
Speaker 1: validate the Orion spacecraft's life support systems. The mission also
Speaker 1: establishes a historic precedent in space, as Lever will become
Speaker 1: the first black man on a lunar mission. Director Vanessa
Speaker 1: Whitch NASA. Sorry, Director Vanessa Whitch of NASA said, for
Speaker 1: the first time in more than fifty years, these individuals,
Speaker 1: the artemist the second crew will be the first humans
Speaker 1: to fly to the vicinity of the Moon. Among the
Speaker 1: crew are the first woman and the first person of color,
Speaker 1: and the first Canadian on a lunar mission, and all
Speaker 1: four astronauts will represent the best of humanity as they
Speaker 1: explore the benefit for all. Now, obviously the best person
Speaker 1: or the first person of color is significant for all
Speaker 1: people of color, but I would like to once against
Speaker 1: a versus black person that is special. Again, Victor Glover, congratulations,
Speaker 1: and you made a solved problem. Now, how much of
Speaker 1: this Donald Trump stuff did you see?
Speaker 2: So that's an interesting question because we don't voluntarily consume
Speaker 2: him right around these parts. So I've seen as much
Speaker 2: as any casual person has seen. I haven't dug in,
Speaker 2: I haven't tuned in, I haven't been in search of
Speaker 2: But you know, it's the type of thing that is.
Speaker 2: It's the news, you know, it's newsworthy. It's again you.
Speaker 2: For most of my life, regardless of your stance, regardless
Speaker 2: of the way that you voted, regardless of your politics,
Speaker 2: you respected the person in the position. Yeah, and then
Speaker 2: there was him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 2: And it changed not just how people like me kind
Speaker 2: of no longer respected the person in the position, but
Speaker 2: polarized the country in a way that seems irreparable at
Speaker 2: this point as we watch, you know, our policymakers snowboard
Speaker 2: down a heel of overt racism and bigotry, and if
Speaker 2: there's a time if there's a time machine available to
Speaker 2: help them get to the bottom of racism slope faster,
Speaker 2: trust me, they would be in there.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So, you talk about the very obvious differences in the
Speaker 2: way this story is being covered, differences in the way
Speaker 2: he's being treated and somehow made out to be a martyr.
Speaker 2: It's laughable, except it's not like we'd laughed Once upon
Speaker 2: a time. We'd laugh at fringe conspiracy theorists that would
Speaker 2: push stuff in front of us that the collective thought
Speaker 2: was ridiculous, so we could laugh, you know. But I
Speaker 2: watch how some of his cohorts and colleagues are operating
Speaker 2: in this space now, even people who he's been flagrant
Speaker 2: and blatantly disrespectful to, but they know it's in their
Speaker 2: best political interest to steal, parrot his policy, parent his
Speaker 2: way of thinking, and pretend that they're supporter of his,
Speaker 2: Like people who he's talked bad about their wives and them,
Speaker 2: and they're still like out there, you know, in support
Speaker 2: of this guy who they know can help, you know,
Speaker 2: put some gasoline on their political fire. They're just they're
Speaker 2: pushing for things that once upon a time we would
Speaker 2: have said, that's so ridiculous, there's no way that can
Speaker 2: actually happen, except now we have so many examples that
Speaker 2: not only could it, but it would Like when he
Speaker 2: announced his candidacy, I thought it was ridiculous, so I laughed,
Speaker 2: because there's no way he can be the Oh so
Speaker 2: here we are, and you brought up something. We were
Speaker 2: discussing this topic, and I'd love to hear your voice
Speaker 2: articulate this. How on earth would this be covered and
Speaker 2: how on earth would they feel if the former president
Speaker 2: that had just been indicted of no matter what the
Speaker 2: crime was, it could be jaywalking, was Barak Hussein Obama?
Speaker 1: How about that? Okay, I'm glad that you mentioned that,
Speaker 1: because I definitely want to talk about that. But before
Speaker 1: I get there, you brought something up that I want
Speaker 1: to touch on. You talked about kind of respecting the office,
Speaker 1: and we'll get there. When I was first able to vote,
Speaker 1: I voted for I believe it was John carry sound right, yeah,
Speaker 1: and Democratic camp George lost to George Bush. Yeah, George
Speaker 1: Bush the second ended up winning and George w w
Speaker 1: exactly and he won again, So he was a two
Speaker 1: term president. So when I graduated high school, all the
Speaker 1: way until Obama came along, that was what it was.
Speaker 1: I was not a fan of George W. Bush. I
Speaker 1: don't think he was a particularly I can't pretend to
Speaker 1: have been as involved in politics or policies or understanding
Speaker 1: what was going on as he was. But I recognized that,
Speaker 1: you know, nine to eleven, he was a president, you
Speaker 1: know that sort of stuff. Right. I thought that he
Speaker 1: was an embarrassment the way that he spoke. I didn't
Speaker 1: really realized that he I I never saw anything presidential
Speaker 1: about him. But one thing I will say to your
Speaker 1: point is that when he came to Arizona, right, he
Speaker 1: wasn't such an embarrassment that I was not excited that
Speaker 1: he was coming to the city. Had we met him,
Speaker 1: he would have shook his hand exactly, and I would
Speaker 1: have gave him the respect that the office warranted. Right.
Speaker 1: I would have taken a picture with him. You know,
Speaker 1: we did. We disagree on most everything, but you know,
Speaker 1: when it was time to go to war, you did
Speaker 1: your job, you know, uh. And beyond that, you're the president, right,
Speaker 1: you don't you don't speak the way I would have spoken.
Speaker 1: And you know, we've had a couple of cringe moments
Speaker 1: here and there, but for the most part, you seem
Speaker 1: like a decent man, and I hope that before your
Speaker 1: life is over, you come to see things a little
Speaker 1: bit more like people like me, so that you have
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a universal view.
Speaker 2: I also think we both understood, and I think a
Speaker 2: lot of us understand. You don't have to think like
Speaker 2: me to be a decent man. There, Yeah, perfect, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. So, yeah, I would love if
Speaker 2: you thought more like me, because you were in my
Speaker 2: mind back then he was so far extremely the other way.
Speaker 2: But oh my good, no you saying that he was not.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm getting at, because, like you said,
Speaker 1: I would have shook his hand. I would have snapped
Speaker 1: a picture of him. Another person, a name that I
Speaker 1: know that you our listeners would know, is McCain, John McCain. Now,
Speaker 1: remember John McCain is from Arizona. That's where I'm from, right,
Speaker 1: So John McCain was another person to your point, Q,
Speaker 1: who was on the whole other side of the aisle.
Speaker 1: We just did not have similar politics at all. But
Speaker 1: there's no way, there's no way anybody could convince me, ever,
Speaker 1: that that wasn't a decent man. And I think that
Speaker 1: I have an example that would check that box for
Speaker 1: just about it, and if I have a few as well.
Speaker 1: But the one that comes to mind is when he
Speaker 1: conceded defeat to Obama, he made it a point to
Speaker 1: say that this night, this historic night, must be particularly
Speaker 1: special for the African American people in this country. The
Speaker 1: way that he said it in his words, I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of I don't know exactly what he said,
Speaker 1: but that was effectually what he was a semantic don't
Speaker 1: matter right. The way that he said that, let me
Speaker 1: know that's a decent man, right, because obviously the election
Speaker 1: wasn't about race. Later on there was as America. Well,
Speaker 1: sure for some people it was, but the election in
Speaker 1: theory is about politics, right. But a great example of
Speaker 1: what I meant when I said the election wasn't about
Speaker 1: racist four years later Obama ran against His name is
Speaker 1: Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney was recorded at a Republican meeting somewhere,
Speaker 1: but his voice was recorded and he said something like,
Speaker 1: you know, there's like fifty three percent of the country
Speaker 1: that's never going to vote for us because they're this, that,
Speaker 1: and third, and they're just never going to vote over here,
Speaker 1: so we can't worry about them. That's never going to happen,
Speaker 1: right And the way he was describing those of us
Speaker 1: who would never vote for him, it was very dismissive.
Speaker 1: Right now, in hindsight, it wasn't that bad, but you know,
Speaker 1: at the time, it felt very dismissive. And I tweeted something.
Speaker 1: This was back when we still had Twitter. Right by
Speaker 1: the way, if you haven't listened to a couple of episodes,
Speaker 1: we deleted our twitters because we're not the one, nor
Speaker 1: are we the two. Anyway, I tweeted something at the
Speaker 1: time and I said, you know what, I'm not voting
Speaker 1: for Obama because he's black. I'm voting for Obama because
Speaker 1: I'm black. And the weight of that message translated, and
Speaker 1: I remember that got retweeted a ton of times. There
Speaker 1: was like all these news outlets tweeting and everything like that,
Speaker 1: and folks were reaching out. It was really exciting because
Speaker 1: way back when, you know, I didn't have a nationally
Speaker 1: syndicated show where thoughts like that are just kind of
Speaker 1: roll off the tongue. But that was kind of the
Speaker 1: feeling I had when McCain was running. So when I
Speaker 1: say it wasn't race based per se, a more politics based. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was exciting that Obama was black, but there's been
Speaker 1: black people who run for president. I would never vote
Speaker 1: for them. If Clarence Thomas decided that he didn't want
Speaker 1: to be a Supreme Court justice anymore and wanted to
Speaker 1: run for president, there's absolutely no way in the world
Speaker 1: I would ever vote for that man. All skin folk
Speaker 1: and kidne is something that we say over here now,
Speaker 1: the man of the hour. So you know, we realized
Speaker 1: that you're probably listening to this, and it's been a
Speaker 1: few days since this stuff has been announced. But we're
Speaker 1: a weekly show, so we only get to get in
Speaker 1: your ear once a week. So we're going to start
Speaker 1: at the beginning. Prior to the indictment, there was so
Speaker 1: here's a message, or rather an article from Yahoo News,
Speaker 1: there was a poll that showed that President Trump was
Speaker 1: slightly ahead of Ronda Santis. Right after the indictment charge
Speaker 1: was brought forth, Trump's numbers were boosted as a result
Speaker 1: of that, So it really like galvanized and fired up
Speaker 1: his base. I suspect largely because of what you said, Q,
Speaker 1: which is how there are different media outlets covering it differently. Right,
Speaker 1: All media outlets are covering it differently like this. It's
Speaker 1: strange because it's not even about left or right.
Speaker 2: All media outlets are covering this differently than they would
Speaker 2: really any other president, but very very specifically the one
Speaker 2: who everyone who hears my voice knows I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: You're talking about Fox. No, no, no, the former president. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what you're saying.
Speaker 2: Every new outlet would be covering the indictment of Barack
Speaker 2: Obama different than they are the indictment an arrest of
Speaker 2: Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: People were.
Speaker 2: Out of their mind offended when President Obama wore a
Speaker 2: suit that wasn't black and blue.
Speaker 1: Like t like really offended, like angry, it's not presidential.
Speaker 1: It's so funny, because so.
Speaker 2: Could you ever imagine if he had forty three indictments
Speaker 2: thirty four forgive me, but again the semantics, if he
Speaker 2: had two, if he had one, if he jaywalk and
Speaker 2: the police pulled him over, it'd be national news and
Speaker 2: it'd be spoken about in a different tone than.
Speaker 1: You know what. They would say, I know what you mean,
Speaker 1: because they would say it's not presidential right, because that
Speaker 1: was the thing that they always brought for us, especially
Speaker 1: right leaning news outlets. They brought that for when describing
Speaker 1: Obama's behavior or his policy, whatever however he dealt with people. Remember,
Speaker 1: he would do a fist jab as he was fist
Speaker 1: bump as he was campaigning. You know, he just kind
Speaker 1: of does everybody wanted to fist bump Obama. I remember
Speaker 1: Fox News report was like is it a fist bump
Speaker 1: or a terrorist fist jab? Like how they took it
Speaker 1: went all the way to the extreme to try to
Speaker 1: make that connection. You know that somehow Obama was a
Speaker 1: terrorist and bad for the country. And you got to
Speaker 1: remember the climate of the country at the time. We're
Speaker 1: still kind of reeling from nine to eleven. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of terrorism talk is still very much in
Speaker 1: the air. So yeah, the coverage night and day difference,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And I think that that
Speaker 1: speaks to the double standard in this country. Right. But
Speaker 1: back to this arrangement. So one of the other things
Speaker 1: that happened is the day of his arrest. You know,
Speaker 1: of course he got to mosey and there late. He
Speaker 1: was supposed to be there at like eleven am. He
Speaker 1: got there after one, and we know how that's different
Speaker 1: over here, right, But you know he's not us, so
Speaker 1: he gets to walk in. Late Marjorie Taylor Green went
Speaker 1: out there and she spoke to you know, a crowd,
Speaker 1: but she had a bullhorn and there was a lot
Speaker 1: of people protesting with whistles. I need to figure out
Speaker 1: the names of the guys that were out there protesting
Speaker 1: with the whistles, and they were drowning out her speeches.
Speaker 1: Great job, Yeah, it was amazing. They really deserve a
Speaker 1: shout out on the show. But I remember seeing the video.
Speaker 1: I think was that Sean King posted it several people. Okay, good,
Speaker 1: but yeah, a maneuver if I ever seen one. Right, So, yeah,
Speaker 1: her speech got drowned out. But prior to her speaking,
Speaker 1: she gave an interview inside of like an suv or something,
Speaker 1: and she compared Trump's arrest to She compared them to
Speaker 1: like Nelson Mandela and to Jesus, you see did you
Speaker 1: see that? I read that. I didn't see it.
Speaker 2: The sound of her voice makes, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: makes it uncomfortable. So I don't even I don't deal
Speaker 2: in that space because I often have to wonder these
Speaker 2: people are either the most ignorant people in the history
Speaker 2: of people, and I say even more so than those
Speaker 2: who convinced themselves that we were proper property, because I
Speaker 2: really think those people believed, as wrong as they were,
Speaker 2: that we were actually beneath them. I think they were
Speaker 2: indocumented in a way where they actually thought it was okay.
Speaker 2: As we've discussed before, these people had their children at
Speaker 2: lynchings because even those quote unquote decent among them thought
Speaker 2: that that was normal. We're supposed to be a more
Speaker 2: progressed people now, are more enlightened people now. So our
Speaker 2: current political landscape, with our extreme right conservatives, our extreme
Speaker 2: Maga conservatives, our extreme Trump conservatives, they're either the.
Speaker 1: Most grossly.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say ignorant, because ignorant might make
Speaker 2: you think I just mean misinformed. I mean stupid, like
Speaker 2: either that's not proper. I mean like dumb. I don't
Speaker 2: mean like intelligent people that don't have the information.
Speaker 1: No, I mean like the one thing that happens in
Speaker 1: a good number of instances is that they're dumb people
Speaker 1: who have They are very articulate, and they articulate the
Speaker 1: dumb stuff in such a way that other dumb people
Speaker 1: perceive it as being intelligent. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about those people though, because those people
Speaker 2: are intelligent enough to be articulate to make hate and
Speaker 2: divisiveness and racism and bigotry sound okay because they're articulated properly.
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard her speech. It doesn't sound like
Speaker 1: she's learning right.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying this to be mean, but it's
Speaker 2: like you're either that or you're despicably evil, because almost
Speaker 2: everything she says is buried and drenched and drowned in
Speaker 2: so much hate and so much just mean, callous, bigoted,
Speaker 2: racist crap.
Speaker 1: And there are tens of millions of people.
Speaker 2: Shout to the people that drowned her out, because there
Speaker 2: as many people as showed up to drown her out
Speaker 2: that will talk loud as as loud as that, but
Speaker 2: with the same message that she's delivering. And once upon
Speaker 2: a time, I think the entire country would have thought
Speaker 2: that we were beyond that. Yeah, you know, even those
Speaker 2: who paired the same politics who cringe at the idea
Speaker 2: of being labeled racist because they do understand that that's
Speaker 2: a bad thing. I don't think people like her do.
Speaker 2: I don't think they feel that way. I think they
Speaker 2: wear the title of racist proudly. I think they platform
Speaker 2: on it. I think they campaigned on it intentionally. That
Speaker 2: is a different thing, man. It is a very very
Speaker 2: I wish you guys could see my face. It is
Speaker 2: a very very discouraging thing that this is the state
Speaker 2: of our union, so speaking. Which so what happened that day.
Speaker 1: After she got chased out of their bibles loud whistles,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump went in pled not guilty, sorry, and he
Speaker 1: flew back to Florida, and he talked bad about everybody
Speaker 1: and the mom right, well, he talked bad about the
Speaker 1: DA of course, but then he talked about the judge
Speaker 1: and the judge's wife and the judge's daughter. Who gets
Speaker 1: to do that exactly? And that's what I was saying,
Speaker 1: Obama do something like that exactly. So it really does
Speaker 1: go to show that there is a sort of double
Speaker 1: standard there. Hopefully there will be a gag order because
Speaker 1: this guy is super duper off the chain. But then,
Speaker 1: as if that weren't enough, he jumps on his uh
Speaker 1: boring social media site and then he tweets that he
Speaker 1: wants to defund the federal police. This part comes from
Speaker 1: NBC News. Trump and a handful of allies and the
Speaker 1: Republican led House favor cutting money for the Justice Department
Speaker 1: and FBI ahead of September thirtieth deadline to defund the government.
Speaker 1: So or sorry, the deadline to fund the government. So
Speaker 1: he wants his ally, which arn enough to actually make
Speaker 1: this happen. So don't worry. But well I'm worried because
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true. Well, no, I did
Speaker 1: a little research. However, this is and I have to
Speaker 1: get this out.
Speaker 2: This is a sign that Ramses and I and people
Speaker 2: like us, we're too kind, because I remember us having
Speaker 2: conversations about defund the police and kind of grimacing a
Speaker 2: little bit, like, man, I wish we would I wish
Speaker 2: we were saying I wish we were delivering this message
Speaker 2: differently so that it could be received. And they're showing
Speaker 2: us they'll receive anything as long as they're the ones
Speaker 2: saying it. If it's coming from us, it does not
Speaker 2: matter how articulate it. It's crap. They will repurpose the
Speaker 2: same message. They don't even reword it, and they will
Speaker 2: they will receive it and screaming loudly like we weren't
Speaker 2: saying the same thing.
Speaker 1: A year ago. It is disgusting, it's wild to see
Speaker 1: that happen. But you're not wrong, you're absolutely right. So
Speaker 1: this is still a developing story as we record this episode,
Speaker 1: so we'll keep following it and we'll let you know
Speaker 1: if it's worth talking about, right,