In this Labor Day episode, Host Erik Fleming rips on Enes Kanter and Vice President Vance, while offering thoughts on Gloria Steinem, Cassandra Wilson and his uncle, Juan Charleston, Sr.
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[00:02:02] Hello, and welcome to another moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming. Thank you.
[00:02:43] Thank you. Thank you.
[00:03:46] and, you know, so we're just going to go from there. Let's start off with this dude, Enes Cantor, right? So, you know, he's got a different name now, but I think his actions has proven that he's not worthy of the name. He doesn't understand what the name means.
[00:04:15] So he is, this is the guy, the former NBA player, who actually, to be fair, was a pretty decent player in the league. I mean, he played a decade, right? Unlike this other dude that's out there that just got his brains beat out running for U.S. Senate in Minnesota.
[00:04:39] But Cantor has, he's one of those, he's one of the two guys who said that he was a woman for the purposes of being eligible for the WNBA draft, which, you know, in some circles, people can make the argument,
[00:05:08] well, you know, he's expressing his free speech, he's trying to make a political point, yada, yada, yada. And I get it, you know, especially if you have nothing else to do. Now, he came to prominence outside of whatever he was doing on the court because he was, I want to say he was defending the Kurds. It was something going on in Europe.
[00:05:38] I think he was concerned about Turkey killing the Kurds or whatever the case may be. And he started speaking up on that and started speaking up on the human rights violations in China because he got upset that the NBA played an exhibition game in China. And so people realized, okay, well, and he was still playing in the league at that time. So people were like, okay, so he's using his platform
[00:06:07] to take political stance. Okay, fine. He wasn't considered a leader in any of those, but because he wasn't that professional athlete and he said those things, especially against his own league, people took notice. But now he's not a part of WNBA. He's, I don't know if he's even attended a game before Sophie Cunningham, who has decided, I guess,
[00:06:37] to be the Dennis Rodman of the league and stir up controversy whenever she can. And it's amazing that the Indiana fever has now become the MAGA team, right? I think historically that makes sense, you know.
[00:06:59] But, you know, because she is actually a member of the league and she expressed her opinion about transgender athletes. Now, whether you agree with her or not, she actually has standing because she is a player in the league. And if she says that she feels uncomfortable playing against transgender athletes, that's her, right?
[00:07:27] It's no different than professional male athletes saying they didn't want anybody gay in their locker rooms, right? You don't agree with that. Well, I don't. But because it doesn't matter about their sexuality or their gender identification. It matters about whether they can play. Because this still all goes back to this loser named Riley Gaines.
[00:07:57] Riley Gaines finished fifth in a swimming tournament, NCAA swimming tournament. And she was tied with a transgender woman. So she based her whole stick on the fact that if it hadn't been for this transgender woman, she would have done better. And I guess people, MAGA doesn't equate to math because fifth place is not first place.
[00:08:26] And so Riley Gaines was a participation trophy for oppression. And the four other women who won the race, they don't matter. There were four women in the term, biological women, cisgender women, whatever you want to call them. However, your politically correct definition is.
[00:08:56] There were four women that beat those two, you know? So it's like, obviously, being transgender did not impact the race for the woman. I don't even know who the woman is that I can't, it always, because she keeps a low profile. So I don't even know what her name is. But Riley Gaines is upset with her, as opposed to the other four women
[00:09:27] that she can quote unquote identify with that beat her brains out in that race. That's how desperate this whole thing is. And so for the record, there's nobody that is identified as transgender in the WNBA. Has not been, I don't think there's been any in any women's league in the United States. I think there's one in Europe. Right?
[00:09:55] And they did ask her, would she be interested in playing in the WNBA? And she said, if the opportunity came, yeah. But she's not in the WNBA now. So, Cantor, I'm doing my Ernie Terrell impersonation. His mama called him Cantor. I'm going to call him Cantor, right? I'm not,
[00:10:23] I'm not giving him that. I'm not even going to speak to other names. Because he doesn't understand it. Nonetheless, so he showed up and of all places to show up and act a fool, you show up in Chicago, right? He showed up at a Chicago sporting event to make a political statement, just so you know,
[00:10:53] bad mistake. And so he came now. He showed up and he had this shirt on that said woman, a noun, blah, blah, right? And he had courtside seats. Why he had good seats like that. I don't know. Maybe because he's a former NBA player. So he's got a little money or whatever. He had courtside seats. And,
[00:11:24] you know, that was the security risk from Joe Street. Right? Because we know he's about that ignorant life. So he was down there and then he decided, he's going to be able to stand up and start yelling toward the players. And I guess, I think this guy was playing the fever. So I guess that's his thing.
[00:11:53] Now he's going to travel. He was going to travel everywhere. The fever was having road games to make his point. Because now I guess the fever is his team. I don't even know if he played for the Pacers. I don't know if he played for the Pacers.
[00:12:09] I don't know if he played for the Pacers. He was going to be drafted.
[00:12:39] But he got up and started approaching the court. Well, one of the, the privilege of sitting courtside is that you're right there in the action. One of the no-nos is that you get into the action. You don't leave. The seat is as far as you go. You know, they have ushers to go get your popcorn. They don't want, once you get to that courtside seat, not unless you got to go to the bathroom, they don't want you to move. And the bathroom is behind you. You're,
[00:13:08] there's no reason for you to step on the court for any reason. So he started walking toward the court. And at that point, security noticed that, but before security got to him, Natasha cloud, who now I think is the star player in the Chicago sky. Uh, he was, I think he was saying something to either her or her teammate and the cloud. And, and this, I should basically gave him the business,
[00:13:39] you know, it was basically telling him this is, but down and, you know, whatever he was a scrub when he played, you know, you know what I'm saying? They were trash talking each other, but he was still approaching the court. At that point, security grabbed him and escorted him out of the building. Because, because, as a courtside ticket holder, you are not allowed to go forward toward that court. If for any reason, you know,
[00:14:09] if you have, now the players come into the seating area, then it's on the players. But if you start scoring to that court, good luck to you, you know? And so, you know, Natasha cloud being the leader of the team at this particular point and the, and the star players, she basically told him where to go down to get there. And so security escorted them out. So after he did that,
[00:14:39] the Chicago sky organization said, uh, yeah, he can't come to any more sky games and he can't even set foot and win trust arena anymore for any reason. Now, because of that, Mr. Cantor has decided to sue and now he's suing the sky, but he's also by virtue of the venue, he's suing the city of Chicago,
[00:15:07] as well as the, the city agency to handles Navy pier and McCormick place and all that stuff. Cause it's part of that complex. And, um, so now you got the city of Chicago. That means you got Brandon Johnson involved. That's not going to go well for you. Mr. I'm just,
[00:15:35] it's going to get dismissed because you're saying that they violated your freedom of speech. When you were allowed to enter the stadium, you were allowed to walk in the stadium. You were allowed to be seated at the courtside seat that you purchased with your fruit, your expression on your t-shirt.
[00:16:03] You were allowed to come in with the t-shirt. You were allowed to sit with the t-shirt on. That was your expression. That was your freedom of speech. So the sky didn't prohibit you from that. What they prohibited you from doing is to be a disruption on the court of play. Which is a violation of the NBA and the WNBA or the NCAA or any league that has sanctioned basketball. You are not, you,
[00:16:33] if you are not part of the team, you are not supposed to be on the court. If you are not the referee, you are not supposed to be on the court. Even the reporters have a limited access to being on the court, the press, right? When the action is going on, there's only certain, there's only supposed to be, what, 12 people on the court. The five players from each team and the two referees. That's it.
[00:17:03] If you step on that court, you have violated league policy, stadium policy, and basketball etiquette. And as somebody that has played in the NBA for 10 plus years, you know better. So, that's not going anywhere, but, you know, I think the vengeance is the point.
[00:17:34] The, the drama is the point. So you file a lawsuit that gets on the news, you know, you have day in court. And it's like, you know, I'm like, okay, if you want to play that game, then every team, based on what you did in Chicago, just say, you can't come to the arena. Now,
[00:18:03] and now you got to sue everybody, right? To get your access back. So I don't know how much money you got, but if that's the game you want to play, then federal courts, not cheap. So that's where you want to go, go to, but you're going to lose. You would have been better off just going to the casino in Indiana. Since you seem to love the Indiana fever, you just go to the casinos in Indiana and spend your money there.
[00:18:34] You actually probably would win something at the casino. Cause you're going to lose this court case. Cause you violated league policy. It's not a freedom of speech moment. Now the whole concept about the women, the other thing is, this is that the league is a private entity. So if they wanted to say,
[00:19:04] this is as ridiculous as it, but if they wanted to say that Eric Fleming and every member of Eric Fleming's family can play in the league, nobody else can. They have a right to do that. That's they have their right to do that. They are private entity, right? There is no law saying that Enes Cantor or Natasha cloud even can't be banned
[00:19:34] from the league. Now, you know, we raised holy hell about that as far as black folks. I look, you know, but if you noticed, there's no landmark legal cases that allow Jackie Robinson or Chuck Cooper, or I forget the young man that integrated hockey or Fritz Pollard.
[00:20:02] There was no lawsuit that said black folks have to play in the league. These entities made business decisions and they wanted black fans because they realized black money is just as good as white money. And so they integrated their respective professional associations because there wasn't a legal footing to change that.
[00:20:32] I know for some folks, you know, you can be creative with it and file a lawsuit. That's fine. More power to us if we did that, but it's, they were private entities that it really wasn't any, which is part of the frustration. There was nearly no way to get around that.
[00:21:00] Not unless the federal government intervened and people felt the federal government had gone too far with professional sports, but just the antitrust laws. Right? So they really, you really couldn't force these leagues to allow black players to play, but they made business decisions and our black folks are in every major sport.
[00:21:29] There's most of the star players in every major sport, even hockey, black players. So that's that. The WNBA, they could define women as anybody named Enos Cantor or the other boy. It wasn't in Royce white. They, they can't play.
[00:22:02] Anybody else, they could actually make a rule and say anybody else that identifies as a woman, but those two individuals are eligible for the draft. They can make that rule. They could single those two people out and say they could never play in the league. They can ban them for life. Look at Pete Rose in baseball. He's dead. And he's still not getting in the hall of fame, which I think is a shame at this point. But the guy who banned him from the league is dead.
[00:22:31] The guy, the guys that have kept it going, you know, and Pete Rose is gone. Pete Rose has been gone for years now. It has, it's not months, it's years. He's still not in the baseball hall of fame because they have as a private entity, the right to do that. So the WNBA says, Enos Cantor, you can never play in this league. He's not blind.
[00:23:01] That's not happening. So good luck with that. Mr. Cantor. Just wasting everybody's time, which according to some people that watch you play basketball, that was now that's the Boston. That was his best years were in Boston. I'll be fair to him. His best years on Boston, but all the other places where he played, they probably felt you were a waste of time there too.
[00:23:32] Nonetheless, um, moving on, uh, Donald Trump is, is building everything he can. So he's where we are now on the building spree with the president is, uh, the ballroom kind of sort of can continue, right? Cause the Supreme court,
[00:24:03] uh, five to four with justice Roberts siding with the ladies, the liberal ladies. So to my or Kagan and Jackson, um, they, he's the Supreme court ruled that he can continue with the ballroom thing because the case that was brought before them was an issue about standing. And they basically said that the historic trust,
[00:24:33] the heritage trust did not have standing in a case, even though their government entity designed to make determinations about, uh, any changes to these historical buildings. I didn't go to law school. So that's way above my pay grade and way beyond my logic spectrum.
[00:25:00] And justice Roberts and his dissent basically summarizes it and said, yeah, I think what you're doing is unconstitutional, but you don't already tore the edge wing down. Um, and you're about 80% complete with whatever you're doing. So I, I, I don't think you should, I don't think, I don't think you should have done it. I don't think you should do it, but, but for the record,
[00:25:30] no, I'm not going to allow you to continue that. Unfortunately, he was in the minority. So, um, so the East, the ballroom is going on. Although we did find out that Donald Trump, this may be an Obama thing again, because it was pointed out. I think it was a Rachel Maddow show and it was a Washington.
[00:26:00] I think it was a Washington post story. They came out and a lot of people was like, but all the real stuff that was going on, people don't remember, but there were some renovations done during Obama's administration. And they kind of dismissed it as like, you know, updating the underground stuff. Cause you know, they, when they built stuff, when they built that building, you know, there was, and finally decided to put electricity in it.
[00:26:30] You know, they had these certain kinds of few boxes, the technology that was available. And so as the technology changed, in some cases, like in the city of Jackson, for example, the fuse box that was installed under the city hall in Jackson is still there. They literally have to train people at energy Mississippi for that one box, which is in the bottom of city hall.
[00:27:02] You've got to go through training for that one, but that's the only place in Mississippi to has this particular box because the historic preservation said it's got to stay. Okay. So I'm sure the white house had similar setups. And so Obama said, we're changing all that. The truth is, is that Obama built a bunker. Right.
[00:27:30] And because I think they were faith, they phased out Greenbrier in West Virginia. And so they basically built a bunker, a new bunker in the white house during Obama's administration. So Donald Trump said the whole purpose of him building a ballroom was not only to have these spectacular events, but also to create a defense perimeter for the white house,
[00:27:58] because it's going to have drone ports and, uh, or landing pads will have the term you want to use and, and anti-aircraft missile capability. And then it's going to have a bunker underneath. Well, now we found that there was a bunker already down there. So are you building a bunker to connect to the one? Are you going to seal the one off that Obama?
[00:28:27] I don't know. You know what I'm saying? But there was already a bunker down there. Now, unless you basically creating a tunnel, which is maybe why the project is going faster than normal, because they realize there's a bunker down there, so they don't have to build a new one. They can just build a ballroom and build like a little passageway to get him to that bunker. Nonetheless, that's almost done, I guess for lack of a better term.
[00:28:57] And it doesn't look as, you know, they can't stop any of this. I made the announcement about the Kennedy center. So the Kennedy center situation is that, you know, they forced him to take his name down and then he put up some drapes. So you wouldn't see that his name was no longer on the building. It's how fragile this man's ego is. It's they had, and the drapes are still up by the way, the name is down, but the drapes are still up.
[00:29:27] So now he's saying that he wants to tear the Kennedy center down because he's not going to be allowed to make repairs. And everybody said, no, you can make repairs. It's just this one condition that you got to put a plaque saying that you made the repairs before you've even made them. I think the judge said, it's like, so you want to, you want to commemorate the future before the present even happens. She was like, what are you,
[00:29:57] what are you saying? It's, you know, everybody's just saying, just do the renovations. And then once you do, cause traditionally this is how it works in government. For those who don't know, you can build a building, government building there. After so many years, if you're keeping that building in use, you're going to have to renovate at some point in time because of nature, you know,
[00:30:25] cause buildings are made of brick. Brick is of natural materials, right? Or stone or wherever the case may be. So you're going to have to renovate it. You got to update the technology in the buildings and all that stuff. In Texas, they redid the Capitol bill because the Capitol building was getting too congested because all the committees and numbers of people in. So they literally had to redo the inside of the state Capitol and basically built a new building.
[00:30:53] Another Capitol underground where they could have all these committee meetings and all this. And eventually as innovative as that was, they're going to renovate that 10 years from now. Now, because of time, right? The longer buildings stay up and stay in use, there's wear and tear internally and externally.
[00:31:19] So you're going to have to renovate just to make sure everything is up to code. So when government buildings get built, there's a plaque that's put on. It used to be like the cornerstone of the building. Now they just plaque. It basically recognizes who was the members of government during that period. Like, say, the state Capitol, there'll be, you'll say, you know,
[00:31:48] this was the state Capitol and this was the governor when the Capitol was built and blah, blah, and recognize the architects, all that stuff. It'll have that on that plot. Right. Right. And then when they renovated the Capitol, they put another plaque up there saying, well, this is when the Capitol was renovated, blah, blah. So it's a historical record of anything dealing with that building construction wise. But they usually do that after they finish the work.
[00:32:19] They don't do it beforehand. Right. So. I don't know. You know, I did thing is, you know, why do you want your name on the, on that building so bad? Why do you want to do that? That building wasn't built for you.
[00:32:44] That building was built as a memorial to a president who was assassinated, John F. Kennedy. And it was a request to make it a living memorial. And so it became the performance arts center. Right. So it's like, why you got to put your name on that? You didn't try to put your name on the Lincoln Memorial. Sherizel didn't try to put it on the King Memorial. You didn't try to put on the Jefferson Memorial.
[00:33:15] Why are you messing with John F. Kennedy? What did he do to you? Did you feel you got to desecrate his memorial? That was the first question I had. You know, this stuff started. And so now you can't do that. So just go ahead and do the reservations. Just do it. I mean, nobody wants to perform there. They did. They stopped signing the contracts or broke their contracts even because you stuck your name on the building. And folks said, no,
[00:33:44] we signed with the Kennedy Center. We didn't sign for the Trump Kennedy Center. So we're not performing here. So, you know, the center is not really active. Now is the time to do renovations. If you want to renovate, fine. I just saw a report where the ceiling and part of the ceiling came down in the vestibule or whatever. The foyer. Okay.
[00:34:13] That sounds like you need to renovate. Now, in this day and age of being cynical and skeptic and being a skeptic and all this stuff, he, somebody probably went in there and tore that place. She did some damage just to prove because that's what, you know, gangsters do that stuff. Right. That might've been staged for all I know, but either way it go, the building does need to be renovated. Nobody's arguing with that.
[00:34:45] So just renovate. And then when it's finished, then you can put the plaque up and say, I Donald Trump as president of the United States renovated this building. Fine. You don't want to give the architects or subcontract nobody else credit. Great. The plaque, the way I just said it, stick that plaque on there after you've done the work. Do the work. I know you're used to just sticking your name on things for marketing purposes. And, you know,
[00:35:14] you get money for the signage. You're the only person that gets paid to put your name on stuff as opposed to paying to put your name on stuff. I think that's weird, you know, but, you know, he, I guess people make money with his name on it. So they, they, they play with that. Trump tower in Chicago is an example in New York. Nonetheless,
[00:35:44] at least it used to be, but nonetheless, this is a government building. So just do the renovations sticking him on there. But now, now, now we've gone to the arc, the Trump, arc, the Trump. And they, somebody asked him, he said, what, what is the purpose of the arc? Initially, it was sold that the arc was to commemorate 250 years of America. But when they asked him recently, they said, well, what is the, the, the arch for? He said, it's a memorial to me,
[00:36:17] the worst president United States, which by the way, his girl was the name, that her name, Natalie Harp. she, she printed out something for him to post saying that he was the greatest president ever. More. So he was a better president. Any of the people on Mount Rushmore. Right. Or some of the more modern leaders that have led us through, say the civil rights movement or got us out of the depression. He's better than info.
[00:36:51] I'll get to that a little later, but he wants to build this arc. So there were some people that felt like one of the reasons why the Lincoln Memorial was built where it was, was because it wanted to give the illusion that Lincoln was looking over the soldiers that fought for the union. And our international cemetery. And the ironic thing is our international cemetery is on the property of Robert E. Lee's family once owned because Robert E.
[00:37:21] Lee is a descendant of George Washington. History is amazing. So, but that was part of the deal. Why the Lincoln Memorial's position where it was so that it would give the impression that Lincoln was overseeing or. As some folks poetically say, secretly talking. To the soldiers that gave their lives.
[00:37:46] During the civil war and or a military veterans period. Right. That was the whole deal. So somehow, some way this giant arc, which is going to be built like in this roundabout. That leads to the cemetery. Somehow that's going to disrupt that. And it's going to disrupt views from the cemetery.
[00:38:14] Cause you got to look at the arc because it's going to be 250 feet high. You got to. See that instead of seeing the DC skylight. Whatever. I mean. Of all the thing of those three things. At the dark to me is not the big deal. You know, aesthetics and all that. I get it.
[00:38:41] People get upset whenever a new building is built anywhere. I mean, I remember people were raising. It's holy hell about. Building a skyscraper in Ridgeland, Mississippi. You know. We want to see the scenery. The building is right next to the interstate. What scenery are you looking at? There was already a mall right there. What scenery are you talking about? Right.
[00:39:12] You want to see the cars going to work during the day? I just. We're coming to the shopping center. Even what, what were you talking about? They just wanted to. They just didn't want any skyscrapers in their city. They lost. Put the skyscrapers there. Cause the skyscrapers being built by. A law firm. So. Yeah. You lost that one.
[00:39:42] You know, I was saying that citizens don't have rights as far as how they view their property and all that. I'm not trying to diminish that, but you know, some people were just being assholes. You know, people can abuse rights that you have, right? You know, people always quote that, that classic line from Spider-Man with great power comes great responsibility. A right is a power.
[00:40:09] That means that you have to be responsible with that. Right. The second amendment says you have a right to have a gun. It does not give you the right to kill everybody in your neighborhood. There's a responsibility with that. Right. Nonetheless. So I don't have a problem with the arc itself.
[00:40:33] If the arc was really supposed to be commemorating 250 years of American existence, I don't have a problem with that. I don't even have a problem with where it's located. Now I'm not an architect. You know, I don't live in DC. So my views are not going to be the same as people who live there or travel there. But of, of those three issues that we're dealing with, I don't have a problem with the arc.
[00:41:03] I don't, but I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. To the arc and the plaque on the Kennedy center. Cause I don't think he's going to get it. But if he, if he does get it, when the Trump regime is over, you know, cause most presidents we say to Trump, you know, we'll say the term is over,
[00:41:32] but it's pretty apparent that he has modeled himself after people like Pol Pot and Stalin and Mussolini and, uh, you know, Putin. She, he, he wants to be those guys. And he wants, he wants to be a dictator,
[00:42:02] you know? And, and was it Irwan? In Hungary, I guess you should have got that memo from that election, but maybe not. You know, you think that you're not going to make the same mistake this guy did when you're exactly doing what he did. Right. Or that you're better off than Nixon was. Yeah. I really think he, he, you know,
[00:42:31] nobody's really pressed him on it, but I really think he, he loves Richard Nixon. Rickson, Richard Nixon was his formative president. As far as age. Right. So. We're political thought. Cause he should have been in his thirties when Nixon was president, but nonetheless, I mean, Nixon was a political figure in the fifties too. So.
[00:43:02] I don't know. I think, I think Nixon is his guy. I think he wants to, that's the president he's patterned himself after. I mean, Roger Stone was his initial advisor along with Bannon and stone was a lieutenant for Nixon. Nonetheless,
[00:43:28] what's going to happen at the end of the Trump regime is that they just, they don't tear all that stuff down. I mean, if the arc is built by November of 2028 day after the election, that thing is going to be either graffitied up or torn down just like the Berlin wall.
[00:43:57] If it's the arc, they Trump, right. Or the Trump arch or wherever you want to call it. If it's a tribute to him, it's going down. Period. Cause that's what happens when dictators are no longer in power. The citizens destroy the remnants. Example Saddam Hussein example,
[00:44:26] Gaddafi and Libya. They were looking for statues. They were looking for statuettes. They were looking for anything that had to, and they were taking it out of the picture. That's what's going to happen. Cause these people build this whole fallacy about, well, I'm going to build all these monuments and we're, you know, it's going to live forever and all that stuff. I mean, Stalin named a city after himself in the minute that he was gone. Communism was over.
[00:44:56] They changed the name back to the original day, which I believe is St. Petersburg, right? That's what happens when these people that have this delusion of grandeur and power, and they, they want to create all these monuments and legacies to themselves and all that stuff. When the people finally overthrow them, the first act they do is to get rid of any vestige of that person.
[00:45:30] I mean, when we talk about urban and Ergon or whatever his name is in Hungary, they were trying to find a place where all those extra statues were that, you know, I guess he wasn't happy with, or get, got tired of. And they were trying to grab statues and throw them in there and then melt them all down. Right. So, you know,
[00:45:59] whenever these things get finished, they'll have a nice run about two, two years, and then they'll be all gone. It was a moment in time. It was a, it was like a flash mob. He just had his moment and poof, it's out of here. So anyway, you know, I just, um, I think it's,
[00:46:27] I think it's crazy that this man is in the middle of a war that he started in an economic crisis that he created. And all he keeps talking about doing is building stuff. We didn't elect an architect, my man, we elected a president. And it doesn't matter if I voted for you or not, you were elected. So do the job. Your job is not to build stuff. If you wanted to build stuff,
[00:46:56] you should have stayed at Trump tower. Instead of coming down the escalator, you should have just stayed on whatever floor your office is on. I had just been designing stuff. You should have got a contract with the sitting presidents and say, Hey, look, I think we need to have this arch. I'll foot the, you know, I'll get the designers. You know, all I need to do is get it approved and we can make this happen. If that's what you wanted to do for the sake of America, the 250th anniversary,
[00:47:26] if you wanted to donate money to renovate the Kennedy center, you could have done that from New York and never bothered us by being president. But since the people elected you to be president, then it's time for you to do presidential things. Now I noticed people have been trying to put the Lafayette park thing on him. Now that Lafayette park was in works before he got there. Right. Cause it been, you know, the fountains have been cut off.
[00:47:55] That was already in the park service budget. Right. And I think the garden of heroes too. And Eisenhower building, you know, so that's going to fall under him. So here's the beautiful thing about that. Those, those projects like that are going to have his name on it because he was the president when they did the, when the renovations were finished. As a matter of fact, they'll probably have if they,
[00:48:24] if they approved it during the Obama administration or the Biden administration. But I want to think that these were approved during Trump's first administration. So it's like when they finish in Lafayette park, his name is going to be in Lafayette park. Cause he was the president when they finished it. Same with Eisenhower building. When those renovations take place, it's going to be a plaque in there saying president Donald Trump, because the renovations were finished during his administration.
[00:48:54] His name is going to be on a lot of stuff. He's too stupid to realize it, but his name's going to be on a lot of stuff. So it is what it is. And those were legit projects. All this other stuff he's doing is too much. But like I said, he builds that arc by November, December, 2028, December, 2028. It'll be gone. Cause the people are going to tear it down.
[00:49:24] Cause the regime is over. So don't, I wouldn't even get heartburn about all that stuff. You know, I, it's, you know, you got to file a lawsuit for the Kennedy center. And here's the other thing that's kind of pissed me off a little bit. Now I know the Kennedys are kind of involved. Had that been the Fleming, had that been my dad or my grandfather,
[00:49:54] that that building was named after. I would personally move to DC and anybody that had a MAGA hat on, I would tell them you can't come near this building. I'm just, I just, we'd shut that down every day. Every time he says something about it, I'm gonna have a press conference to say, that's not happening. You wouldn't have to ask this Congresswoman from Ohio to be the lead player of a lawsuit.
[00:50:18] I would be it for the Kennedys not to be like tearing shit up right now. It's a little confusing to me. Now, I guess they want to handle it their own way. And that's great. And that's your personal preference. But if you talking about my daddy, Caroline, you want to desecrate my daddy's name, to hell with you. And everything you stand for.
[00:50:48] I'd be making sure that every seat in the United States House of Representatives would be democratic. I would be putting my body in my knuckle in the line because that's the only way we're going to stop him from desecrating my father's name. My father has been dead since 1963. He gave his life twice for this country. He was wounded in World War II and he died as president. That sorry son of a bitch is not going to desecrate his name.
[00:51:17] That's how I would react to it. How you handle it? That's your business. But I'm just telling you. That's your daddy's name. And I ain't heard nothing from you. Nothing. That's crazy. Now, unless you're ill, that doesn't make any sense. Your grandson didn't even campaign on that.
[00:51:45] He was moonwalking and videos and all that stuff. If he had ran a campaign strictly saying, man, I'm going to keep Donald Trump's name off of my great granddaddy's. But Boreal, he probably would have got more votes. He might not have won, but probably would have came closer when he got maturity. Nonetheless,
[00:52:11] all this stuff is going to be dealt with once he's out because people don't like dictators. They get tired of dictators. You know, they may initially fear him, but after a while, even lions and tigers and bears get old and people take them out.
[00:52:40] And once this dictator is gone, as many vestiges of him that will be in existence, will no longer be. So Donald Trump is alive. His airports being named after him, all that stuff. That's great. That's good. When he's dead and gone and he's no longer in power, all that stuff's going to be right. It's almost going to be like Pharaoh.
[00:53:08] When Moses was banned from the temple, the, the monarchy of Egypt. So it was written. So it shall be done. Right. No, he was no longer welcome in the, in the house of Egypt. Right. Anyway, let's take a break here.
[00:53:37] And then I got some more when we get back. Should I say my normal phrase? Catch you on the other side.
[00:53:47] We are back.
[00:54:11] So now I want to, I'm going to play this clip. And the question I have, and it's a question I've had for a long, long time. The question I have is how can anyone justify voting for these people? Right. And you've heard me on the podcast.
[00:54:41] But, but, um, this is vice president, JD Vance, Michigan for the guy running for the U S Senate Republican. I think his name is Mike Rogers. And of course, Dr. Abdul El-Sahid is the democratic nominee. And, uh, JD Vance is going on him.
[00:55:09] I think this is only about 40 some seconds. So it's not going to be that unbearable for y'all, but I want, I want y'all to listen to this. He campaigned Abdul El-Sahid. One of his main campaign surrogates suggested that America deserves nine 11. And, you know, I was trying to understand what would motivate a person to say these things. What would motivate a person to do these things?
[00:55:36] And I realized that there's something about Abdul El-Sahid that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today. And it's people who see themselves not as citizens of a common nation fighting for every single person, whether they're Jewish or Christian, whether they're white or black or Brown, but see themselves as fighting for one group at the expense of others.
[00:56:08] So that, that last little closing part was like, if I was close enough to him, which you can't nowadays, if I was close enough to him, when he started saying there's only what is a group of people that only care about one certain group of folks, they don't care about Jews or Christians, anybody else. I've been holding a mirror up. I said, you are the fucking spokesperson for that, that party.
[00:56:37] The Republican party is a white Christian nationalist party. They don't care about Jewish folks. They're, they're, they're, they're Islamic. Let me put it this way. They're a lot islamophobic and antisemitic at the same time. They don't like black. Now, let's. You tap dance to the tune, you, you, you, you, you,
[00:57:05] you want to conform to your own racism. They'll stick you out there in the front, they'll stick you out there in the front, but they don't like you. They don't like anybody Jewish that runs Republican. They don't like anybody Islamic that runs Republican. They don't like, they don't like anybody that ain't white Christian. It's not not white Christian nationalists.
[00:57:33] They don't even like the people that vote for them because they look down on him. I mean, the man and the man said it, the president said it. I love the poorly educated. And he wasn't saying it in a mother Teresa kind of way. He was saying it like the huckster. He is. I can take advantage of him, but for J D Vance to sit there and say,
[00:58:03] and try to say that the good doctor doesn't care about anybody other than his own folk. I know there's a big Muslim population in, in Detroit, in the Detroit metropolitan area, Dearborn, all that stuff. But do you think he would have won statewide if he sold himself that way? As Bobby, I forget Bobby's last name, the comedian. Oh no,
[00:58:33] he wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have won. He wouldn't have won. There's no way that that man said that with a straight face, but I saw it. I saw the video. He did say, he said it. I got the clip. I just played it. He said with a straight face, that Dr.
[00:59:01] El Said is only caring about one group of people and the hypocrisy and the audacity to be that hypocritical is amazing to me. And that's why I always ask the question, how can anyone, anyone justify voting for these folks? How can you justify that? Now, unless you ascribe to that hypocrisy, now that you ascribe to that insanity. Now,
[00:59:30] unless you subscribe to that mindset, you got to come to the cojones to say, or criticize somebody for only catering to one group of people. When your whole political model has been to cater to one set of American citizens,
[01:00:00] the banner children for white supremacy, the defender of white privilege, you have the audacity to complain or, or accuse somebody of only playing a favorite. And try to make it sound like it was a bad thing. JD Vance could have inserted his own name in that. He could have inserted the president's name in it. He could have inserted.
[01:00:29] What's the boy's name? And John Thune. He could have put in Mitch McConnell. He could have put insert any Republican in that sentence. And that would fit more correctly than any Democrats. You put in that sentence, Kevin McCarthy said the Republican party looks like an all white male club.
[01:01:01] The democratic party looks like America. He said that now, and maybe that's why you ran him off the speaker of the house. But he said that. Because his thing is, he wanted the Republican party to look more like the Democrat party. Y'all need some Muslims in y'all conversation. You need some Latinos in your conversation. You need some Jews. You need some black folks. Your party should be as diverse as the Democrat party.
[01:01:31] If you wasn't on that bullshit. But for you to sit there and say what you just said. And by the way, he already had some gumption. This man's from Ohio. He's in Michigan campaign against somebody in Michigan. Is that allowed? You know, I don't know.
[01:02:01] I guess. All's fair in love and war. Right. But seriously, I just, the temerity, the gumption, the gall, the courage to be that hypocritical is amazing to me. These people are not human
[01:02:29] in the sense that they have a soul or a consciousness. Somebody was joking that the aliens, their generation was a generation that we found out the aliens might actually be living among us. It might be right. It might have been around us for a long time. Because it takes,
[01:02:59] it takes an incredible amount of pain. I would think to be that hypocritical to, to not have any consciousness. It was somebody that I used to use the saying a lot.
[01:03:26] The softest pillow a man could sleep on is a clear conscience. Right. But apparently there is a group of individuals that can sleep on the lumpiest rocks laid out. They could sleep on jagged edges.
[01:03:46] They could sleep on barbed wire fences comfortably because they don't have a conscience. They don't have a soul. Their spirit is not within this realm. And, you know, and some people say, well, Eric, you can't say that because, you know, God created us all and all this stuff.
[01:04:16] And it was like, I need y'all to really read Genesis. I need you to really pay attention. Because if you pay it, if you figure it out, you know, because everybody's saying there's a zero sum game, either there was evolution or creation. It was both. It was both. Now, you know, people can say that's my conspiracy theory and all that stuff. That's fine.
[01:04:47] But for what I read in the book, my argument is based off of the murder of Abel, right? Cain killed Abel. But God didn't send him back to his folks. Seth and all the rest of them. He sent him to the land of Nod. And he put a mark on Cain so that nobody would touch him,
[01:05:16] that he was strictly God to deal with. Right? Right? Who were these land of Nod people? Where did they come from? Because it's like, we were following Adam and then Eve came from his rib and all this stuff. And they had all these kids. And so it's like, who are you exiling Cain to? Who were these people?
[01:05:45] Because you notice they say man. And then they say mankind. Right? Now, in our modern lexicon, they're interchangeable. But biblically, it's a difference. Right? I'm just saying, I'm throwing all that out there to understand it.
[01:06:11] It's possible that there are human beings running around. And it seems like a lot of them are in the political party. We call the Republicans. That don't have the same spiritual connection that we do. They don't have the same soul that we have. If they have one at all.
[01:06:38] Because if we're mean to a family member, if we're mean to a friend, if we're mean to a coworker, if we're mean to an animal, we feel some kind of way about that. We'll feel guilt. Even in our anger, we'll feel some guilt. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I shouldn't have sent the dog outside. Maybe I shouldn't have done this or that. We feel that guilt.
[01:07:07] Most of us do. Right? But these folks can say things and do things and have no compunction at all. That's why when the FBI profile serial killers, the first thing they look at is how do they treat other living beings besides humans? Did they microwave cats? Did they poison dogs? Right? If they can find that animal cruelty in their behavior pattern,
[01:07:39] they're probably going to be a killer. Because they don't have any empathy. They don't have a soul. Right? So, it was just amazing to me. And no political commentator responded to that comment. They were more hung up on the fact that, you know,
[01:08:09] he's talking about, you know, Saeed again. And da, da, da, da. You know, they just, you know, they are hung up on that Piker deal. Hassan Piker deal. And I dealt with that last episode, but I'm just saying that's the story because that's the story they want. That's the low hanging fruit they want. But this man said that a,
[01:08:36] a democratic nominee doesn't care about anybody but himself. And you are the spokesman for the party that practices that every day. I think that should have been the challenge. That should have been the main focus of his, of, of challenging his remarks. You know,
[01:09:05] and they get on these, these shows. I don't like that. I don't like the, the show, even though the sister's now hosting it, that where they all in the circle and you put somebody in the middle of the table, like it's a chess table and you're going at whatever that show's called. I'm, I don't like that, you know, because it's all about how rude can you be in your five seconds of fame to
[01:09:33] somebody that's an influencer or may actually be of some importance. Right. Whether they're on my side or not, if I ever got to the point where I could be invited to the show, I would turn that down. I don't want to be on CNN on Abby Phillips show. I like Abby Phillips. I like Adi Cornish.
[01:10:04] I like, I like people. I just won't be on your show. I'm not being in a format where somebody white is going to be rude to me. That's not happening. And, and, and they're being rude and they're being stupid at the same time. They're, they're, they're, they're shouting out the talking points that their handlers gave them to shout out and blah, blah, blah. Instead of dealing with the facts, because if,
[01:10:34] to be honest, if they dealt with the facts, they wouldn't be on the show either because they wouldn't be able to show their face. That's why I say they don't, they don't have a soul, you know? And then he said, well, you got to go on there to defend our point or else they'll just have all the, I get that. And I appreciate those soldiers. Dr. Isaiah Martin, to all them that, that entertain that.
[01:11:04] The Charles blows. Adam mocklers. God bless all y'all for doing that. We appreciate your service to your country, but just like the actual military is volunteer. So is going on those types of shows. That's why I do my show different. I don't want you to be confrontational. I want to give you your 15 seconds, actually your half hour.
[01:11:36] I mean, JJ can't trail said something real insane the other day, talking about why black people move out of black neighborhoods. Right? Says them about our culture and all this stuff. JJ has been on the show. He wrote a book about his experience as a border patrol agent. We talked about his book. He knows that he and I do not agree on a lot of stuff.
[01:12:07] Based on his comments, I'm, I don't know, should I be honored or impressed that he came on my show? Because if that's what he thinks of my people, but you came on my show, you know? So, I mean, so it just, it, you know, the truth always comes to light.
[01:12:33] So it just proves a point about what I thought about his perspective on things, you know, but it's like, it is what it is. I don't, I'm not, I'm not mad at him. My rules still applies. Since he's been on the show before, he has an open invitation to come back. So if he wants to defend that or challenge that or challenge what I just said, so be it.
[01:13:01] But he's going to have an environment where I'm going to ask him a question. He's going to give the answer. And my show is set up where it's like, if I asked you a question and I don't think you answered it deliberately, then I'm a, I'm just as creative as you can to try to deflect. I'm going to be creative enough to ask the same question over. And if our 30 minutes is based off of one question and so be it,
[01:13:31] I'm not going to interrupt you. I'll let you say the crazy thing all the way. Let, let with your full chest, let it come all the way out. And then as I go through and I think about how the interview went, then I have this beautiful segment called my closing where I can address each and everything, shut down everything that person said, fact check even out on time to fact.
[01:14:00] And just break all that down and just say, you know what? That man or that woman was nowhere near close to telling the truth, but I'm going to give you the deference because I invited you to my house and you're my guest. And so I want you to feel comfortable, even if it's a position that I don't agree with. I want you to feel comfortable in saying that. So,
[01:14:27] because that's the way I like to run my podcast and that's the way I I think political conversation should be not this free fall. It's like, if you're going to argue with me, there needs to be food and drink involved. I need to have alcohol. I need to have like at least some wings in front of me because that's, that's all that is. It's a sports.
[01:14:56] It's a bar argument or a family gathering argument. Everybody's sitting at the table is usually when families gather, there's food and alcohol involved. Most American families, some families that at least refrain from the alcohol, but everybody gathers around food. So if you're going to put me in that format, then there needs to be food on the table.
[01:15:24] Cause sometimes you might be able to get your point in while somebody's sticking the chicken wing in their mouth. I'm just saying this techniques is there's methods to the badness, but you know, these folks get on these shows and they deliberately just throw out these crazy points and you really can't. You're trying to challenge it because their whole purpose is to be disruptive.
[01:15:53] And my thing is if, if, if your tendency, if your strategy is be disruptive, where did you get that from? Right? Where'd you get that tactic from? And why do you think it's effective? Right? And why do you feel as though that in order to win a debate, you have to disrupt my argument because,
[01:16:26] you know, Satan is the arbiter of confusion and chaos. Right? Y'all Christian folks supposed to know that. Jesus even told Satan, get out of my face. You know what I'm saying? So I, I guess the question I have to deal with is like, when you deal with people like JD Vance,
[01:16:55] who says something as a hippocritical is that, why can't we just tell them to get out of our face? As Simone Sanders, I think on her podcast, she said something to the effect, like when they go low, we go toe to toe. I like that. You know, why do we have to be, I get it. Madam first lady. When we go, when they go low, we go high. I get it.
[01:17:25] But that's in a setting where we're dealing with policy, to be honest. That's, that's ideal. They kill them with kindness and all that. But we want to do more than kill them. At this particular point, we want, we want, we want to chop them up into pieces. We don't want them to regenerate at all. The ultimate goal is to end racism in America,
[01:17:54] Whether it's to create a law, to, to outlaw it, you know, with a criminal penalty. Right. Now, you know, thinking through the scenarios, there's ways to try to get around that and all that stuff. And, you know, the evil people will figure it out and game it out. But I think enough of the racist will, will get arrested where we changed the culture.
[01:18:22] And those people who are busy in their basements, their mama's basements, plotting, scheming, whatever the case may be, their farms or barns, whatever the case may be, then that minority will keep dwindling. We've seen racist organizations dismantled before. Indiana. Remember, I'd mentioned that earlier.
[01:18:46] The Klan in Indiana literally had every statewide office in the early 20th century. They had every statewide office. They were the political force in Indiana politics. Within 10 years, they weren't.
[01:19:16] Because they got one, one member did something unethical, and they used that to dismantle, defeat, and dismember that organization. They destroyed them. It just took one to finally get justice for their unethical, hedonistic behavior. And, because, because discrimination is hedonistic.
[01:19:46] They say, oh, we're not down with the, with the homosexual lifestyle, and we're not down with the, uh, sexual revolution. We're not down with all this hedonism. Being a racist is hedonist. It is. It's, it's satanic. It's not anything mere
[01:20:15] being what a Christian is supposed to be. Nothing. And you can twist the Bible just like you twist the Constitution to try to justify it. But, when it come down, as the farmers say, to the nut cutting, racism is the greatest atrocity. Because, Christ says to love everyone. If you're a racist, you can't love everyone. Therefore,
[01:20:45] you are not of God. Period. And, and, I'm, I'm not a student of Quran, but I promise you there's a surah that addresses that. I'm not Jewish, but I promise you there's something that addresses that. I promise you. But as a Christian, I'm telling you, you are not of God. You are not part of my Christian group. I think you can call yourself Christian.
[01:21:15] But if Christ says to love everybody and you practice racism, you don't like black folks. You don't like Latino folks. You don't like Jewish folks. You don't like Islamic folks. You don't like Asian. If you don't like people and you, and you institute policies to express that prejudice and do everything within your power to harm those folks. because when you deny somebody the ability to buy a house,
[01:21:44] that's harm. When you deny somebody the ability to go to a school with books even, that's harm. When you constantly arrest people based on how they look instead of what they did, that's harm. When you create a system where one group of people,
[01:22:14] because they lack the biological pigmentation that everybody else has. So you give them a leg up because they don't have as much melanin as everybody else. Their eyes are blue, which is a recessive gene. So you give them a leg up. White privilege is affirmative action. It's the original affirmative action.
[01:22:45] Period. End of story. So for J.D. Vance, the vice president and the president and everybody else to try to say that other people only care about one thing or one group of folk and they're not talking to a mirror, then they're being hypocritical.
[01:23:16] Bottom line. And it's time out for that. And somebody said it, I think, I don't know if you've seen this meme where it was this hearing in Louisiana and this dumb MAGA Republican said something to his brother saying, well, the brother had a hat on that said everything, it was criticizing Trump,
[01:23:44] everything he's, you know, Trump does is wrong or something like that. And the guy said, everything that Trump does is right. And the brother turns around and said, ooh, burn, right? Y'all seen that meme? So he actually said something profound and he said that, you know, these, he basically was saying that these people
[01:24:14] don't care about anybody but themselves and they're going to hell. You know, if we're going to buy into the whole afterlife thing, you know, there are people that are going to heaven to have flaws and there's going to be some people in hell that
[01:24:44] may have shown some grace at some point. But if you will sell your soul, if you do have a soul, then you sold it. And if you're willing to sell your soul or do harm to others to attain personal gain, that's what hell is for. But the main reason why hell is there is because you couldn't follow a simple
[01:25:13] commandment, love thy neighbor. You couldn't do it. There's a reason again. I keep telling you, I hope I'm getting this in your head. America is the most unique nation on the planet. Every citizen in this country represents all the nations in the world. Put it where it doesn't sound as confusing. Every nation in the world is
[01:25:43] represented in the citizenry of the United States. Therefore, we represent the world. We're not just the United States of America. We're the United Nations of the planet. Of the 330, 40, 50 million people that live here, we have a representative from every standing nation in the world. It's even in our gene pool,
[01:26:15] even if the person physically ain't here anymore, that one gene pool. No other nation can say that. So that means that we are supposed to be the country that epitomizes loving thy neighbor. Reagan was on to something when he said we should be the city on the hill,
[01:26:48] and our foundation should be built on rock, not on sand. When you cater to a movement that is destructive, that's building a foundation on sand. the reason why the United States in 250 years has attained the status it has attained is because it was built on a divine foundation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
[01:27:19] Now, the people who wrote it weren't exactly true believers themselves. That's why it's divine because it was through their fingers is that they wrote these documents and realized they needed to have them. That was divine guidance. Even though they owned slaves, even though they were committing other atrocities, they wrote those two divine documents.
[01:27:49] And that's the foundation, that's the rock that we build this nation on. And these people that's in office right now are anti-federalists. These people are anti-constitutionalists. These people are anti-declaration and independents. These people are not true Americans because they want to destroy the government that those two documents built because those documents
[01:28:19] gave the latitude for me and everybody else to have the freedom to do something crazy like a podcast or even show up at a basketball game with a t-shirt. If he had just sat in his chair, we wouldn't be having these problems. He still would have been banned from the league. But nonetheless, the foundation of the Constitution that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence set gives us the strength for 250 years to be one of the
[01:28:48] youngest countries to attain the political power that we have. Because all these other empires you hear about, Greek and Roman, it took them thousands a year to get to the point where they were feared and respected around the world. And, you know,
[01:29:20] there's this thing where people keep talking about the fall of the American empire. I want you to understand this. There may be a fall of imperialistic America, but if we do what we're supposed to do, there will never be a fall of the American nation.
[01:29:53] once we get the white nationalism out of our system, then we, which is, it's an amazing thing. We want to be nationalists, but we want to rule the world too. How does that work? How do you want to be imperialist and nationalist at the same time? Because it's all about confusion and chaos. It's not logical. Right? You will
[01:30:22] dictate how the oil prices are going. You want to control the straight-up news. You want to control the Dead Sea. You want to control the Indian Ocean. You want to control the Asian Pacific Islands. You want to control whether Israel's going to stay a political state or not and control who his allies are. You ain't got time for all that.
[01:30:52] Right? You got to be nationalist in the sense that you got to make sure that your folks can afford groceries. That's the nationalism of people. Can I afford gas to put in my car? Can I go to the doctor? How about that? Can I just go to the doctor when I'm not feeling well? Why I got to self-medicate? Why I got to self-prescribe? I got a headache.
[01:31:22] It could be an aneurysm, but I can't afford to go to the doctor, so I'm going to get some Tylenol. Why can't we afford to do that? That's the nationalism that people want. Not rah, rah, rah, anytime the United States plays another country. It's, you know, how what creative way we can wear the flag on our body. If you really want to be a patriot in America, you figure out a way where people
[01:31:52] can afford to live somewhere. You figure out a way for people to be able to get health care without making the decision whether they're going to pay rent or go to the doctor or eat. True American leadership. Remember that concept? True American leadership is like the
[01:32:21] Maslowian principles should be taken care of. Food, shelter, clothing. That should be already, that should be a given, especially in and we're scared to make him pay taxes.
[01:32:52] What sense does that mean? Oh, he creates jobs. He's never created a job. I've never worked for Elon Musk. I've never worked for Sam Walton. I've never worked for Jeff Bezos. So how many jobs are they creating where they don't have to pay any taxes?
[01:33:22] Those three people, well, Mr. Walton's along with us, but the family. It's like, if you, those three people are worth close to $2 trillion, $2 trillion, which means at the minimum, they should be hiring half of the nation,
[01:33:51] in my mind, to qualify not paying any taxes. If those three people were, had 150 million people on their payroll, then maybe, just maybe, we could have an exception for them. But Elon Musk does not, even with the Doge thing, he didn't hire, he's never hired 50 million people. Amazon, with all the employees they got, ain't 50 million. Jeff Bezos might be the closest,
[01:34:21] but it ain't 50. I know there ain't 50 million Walmart employees. They might be neck and neck, actually, between Amazon and Walmart. They're closer than Elon Musk to the 50 million. So it's like, if they're not hiring that many people, they should pay taxes. taxes.
[01:34:51] Because if they were hiring that many people, it wouldn't be that much need for tax. You know why? Because those jobs would be able to cover expenses like food and shelter and all that. That would generate more revenue and stimulate the economy. That's not happening. They would create monopolies too, which is a whole other segment of nothing. But nonetheless,
[01:35:20] nonetheless, you know, this again, J.D. got me on the rant going into this thing about all they care about and was trying to say that Dr. El-Sayed was that guy. All he care, all they care about. I guess he was implying Muslims. But the
[01:35:50] frustrating thing is that he needs to give that speech in front of a mirror and maybe, just maybe, by the magic of Disney, the power of God, whenever he comes to revelation like, holy crap, that's really me. I really want to believe
[01:36:19] that in some back room somewhere, they all getting together and saying, you know, they're just like the Mandarin and the Iron Man movies. He's really, they really just acting out. They really don't believe that, but they just think that they got to say this stuff to win elections because a good portion of American people buy into that foolishness. Right? They think that way.
[01:36:50] But somebody actually has to be a leader that believes that to get the masses to feel that way. There's got to be some group to stir it up. But my thing is that I wish that they were acting. I wish that my cynical self was correct. But I don't think so. Because they say it with too
[01:37:20] much comfort. They say it with too much ease. And that's a damn shame. And that's why they all got to go. Now, again, the reality is never going to get 100%. Just like in baseball, there'll never be an undefeated team. You know, we're not going to get all the Republicans out
[01:37:49] in the election. But my God, we've got to flip the majorities in the House and the Senate. We got to. And not, to me, I don't think it's going to happen, but this is what I want. I want the House to flip like it did and you regain 40 seats. And I want the Senate to flip enough where
[01:38:19] not only does J.D. Vance is just a decoration, but the filibuster doesn't exist either. That's what I want. I don't think it's going to happen, but that's what I want. But I do believe that the House and Senate are both going to flip because I just think people are tired of the bullshit. And they're going to vote accordingly. That little arrogant prick down there in Tarrant County, he about to lose to that sister.
[01:38:48] If nobody else wins in Tarrant County, they're going to make sure that little bastard is out. Because I'm tired of seeing his little memes on social media, him being an asshole to the citizens that voted for him or that he represents. You know, you're a judge in a fucking county in Texas. You are not the supreme leader. Get over yourself. But that's all right. November is
[01:39:17] coming and you'll be gone. And that sister might be the only Democrat on the court, but at least that little bastard won't be. He won't be in charge. You know, it's just some people that it's one thing about the politicians that steal money from the public or take bribes and all that stuff to give a bad name. But arrogant assholes really give politicians a bad name because at the very least, the reason why
[01:39:47] people are able to steal andinhos bribes and stuff is because they play the nice game to the constituents. But when you are an asshole to the constituents, you don't need to be anywhere near the public. You need to be on your front porch drinking your whiskey, sour mash, your lemonade or wherever the hell and leaving people to hell alone and people will leave you to hell alone. That's where you need to be. You don't need to be anything with any authority at all other than your house.
[01:40:18] As far as Gump will say, that's all I got to say about that. Look, I want to close out with a few tributes real quick. I want to acknowledge the fact that Cassandra Wilson is no longer with us. Cassandra Wilson, one of the greatest jazz vocalists, she identified herself not as a vocalist but a musician and her Grammys proved that she was right. Proud alum of Jackson State University.
[01:40:48] She passed away at the age of 70. Cassandra supported me in my run for the U.S. Senate. I got introduced to her through a mutual friend. Once she realized it was a Jackson State connection and then I realized that the current mayor of Jackson, John Horne and her were real good friends. It was sad
[01:41:17] to find out that she was gone. but she was a classic artist. She was always trying to explore and change things and push things to the envelope and all that. She wasn't you know the commercial sex is good because you got to pay bills but she was about the craft. She was dedicated to the craft and so that's
[01:41:46] a loss for the jazz and the music community that she's no longer with us. Gloria Steinem. I watched she passed away at the age of 92. Gloria I watched this show called Last Words I think in their last words or something like that. It's a thing that Netflix
[01:42:14] does and so I guess they reach out to celebrities or celebrities reach out I don't know how that works but they've only had three. Jane Goodall did it. That was the first one I think they did and then Eric Dane the actor he did it. He primarily wanted to do it because you know he died of ALS and then Gloria Steinem it shocked me when I was flipping through and I said oh
[01:42:44] wow this ought to be interesting. and you know it was just fascinating to listen to her talk about you know the realities of the women's movement and the fact that her and Freddie Friedan never were close which if you watch that what was that Miss Woman I think or something like that Miss America I think it was which was the show where Cate Blanchett played
[01:43:14] Phyllis Shaffley and think what's that woman's name oh god I forget the young lady that played but she's one of my favorite actresses I can't remember her name Burns for some reason keeps coming to my mind but she played Gloria Steinem in the movie and the girl from the sister from Orange is New Black she plays Shirley Chisholm it was really really good and you know to be fans of people
[01:43:43] and don't know their names that's terrible but nonetheless you know so it's like and I forget who played Freddie for Dan but that's when you saw the tension that I didn't know of course people that lived during that time knew but and historians might have wrote about but I didn't know nothing about it until I saw that show and realized that there was actually friction between Steinem and Fredan and she explains it because Fredan's sister helped
[01:44:13] explain it to her and I thought that was a powerful moment in that story but she just basically her last words were and forgive me if I didn't Gloria Steinem was basically the face of the feminist movement although she said that was regrettable because there were so many women that played such pivotal roles and she almost felt kind of guilty of being the quote unquote face of it and she felt that that was kind of
[01:44:44] sexist that they made her the face of it because in society's mind she was considered a beautiful woman or a pretty woman she really wasn't a big fan of that but she she just did the work because the work needed to be done and her challenge to everybody was to love one another and I don't think she was a very spiritual person
[01:45:14] in the sense of going to well religious person let me put it that way I don't think she was a religious person but to an extent because I think you know she was Jewish by heritage but she her message to us was to love each other and to care about each other
[01:45:43] and that was her whole premise because if we actually cared about each other then society would be equal that's her theory or that was her theory so that was really powerful to see that and then right around that same time my uncle Juan Charleston Sr.
[01:46:13] died uncle Juan was the baby brother my mom was the oldest and uncle Juan was the baby and out of out of that group only two out of the group of my granddad and my grandma Ruby there's two left and then there's one other who was older than my mom called I'm sis
[01:46:44] and she's still with us but you know uncle Juan was he was he was the one that took an interest in me I mean all of them like me my uncle Gandy who's was the oldest boy and and now the I guess the patriarch of the family
[01:47:15] um he you know I mean they all I mean got so the dynamics of that was I literally hung out with my uncle Gandy and he told me uncle Juan was not good I knew he had been sick but he told me he wasn't good and then the next morning we get to call it uncle Juan had passed and uh so Tana Terrell Juan Jr. you know I'm I'm with you he's with Meredith already
[01:47:46] now um but you know uncle Juan took it he had some I don't know I don't know what he saw or whatever I I don't know if because because uncle Gandy's kids were like the athletes in a family and you know everybody else was
[01:48:16] into their own thing you know creative business fashion you know everybody was into their own kind of thing and you know me being I think I was the oldest am I the oldest grandchild I think so no I was the second oldest grandchild because Uncle
[01:48:46] Gandy had a child prior to me but I'm the oldest grandchild living now so anyway it's like he just took an interest in me I ended up staying with him my grandmothers or I stayed at Uncle Gandy's for the summer but for some reason I ended up staying with Uncle Juan for the summer and that was the coolest summer I had because it was just like we were hanging
[01:49:17] out it wasn't like of course we didn't have video games you could stay in the house and he probably wouldn't allow me to do it was just like it was kind of like a mini basketball camp for one because that was the whole purpose was like he was going to teach me to play basketball and that's when I got to see
[01:49:46] the Dust Bowl for those of you Indianapolis you know what I'm talking about for those outside of Indianapolis y'all heard in New York about the Rucker and Chicago you know the little tournaments they have at IIT and all that the Dust Bowl was that kind of deal the playground you know and it was like you know guys from the Pacers would be in there other ABA players
[01:50:16] would come in some NBA guys and then the local legends were all playing in that little Dust Bowl tournament and so he would take me to that he was the one that took me to the Speedway because where he stayed was close to the little Speedway township where the track is so we went I actually got to go on the track because of him and the museum and all that stuff and it was just a cool time because he was the
[01:50:45] cool dude because he was the youngest so he was the more he related to me more than any of the other uncles because he was the youngest and just like in the 70s when you look at those brothers like Earth Wind and Fire and all them and how they acted Uncle Juan was that dude I think my dad liked Uncle Cuan I think Janice's husband Bill liked Uncle Cuan I think her first husband liked him too but definitely
[01:51:15] Uncle Bill and Uncle Cuan vibes it was just he was just that dude he was laid back he was chill he worked for Eli Lilly for years and years you know he's you know just you know their generation was like the last to like really work you know get a good job and hold on to it for like 20 years get your retirement your pension and all that stuff where now it's like even if we
[01:51:44] worked 20 years we had to rely on 401ks right we got screwed out of that thank you billionaires but you know it was like he worked at Eli Lilly so you might have heard of this dude called Baby Face well all them boys are from Indianapolis and they used to sing during lunch breaks the old Edmunds crew so Baby Face and you know Baby Face and then
[01:52:14] you know after seven well they're all brothers so they used to all work at Eli Lilly either for the summer or some were working until they got their break and music and you know they would perform in the cafeteria at the job so my uncle was smart you know so it's like you know most black people are not really phased by celebrity just so y'all understand if we do it
[01:52:44] it's more of a joke rather than like a devotion this Beyonce thing is kind of new but it's like for the most part you know because we all grew up together you know I'm saying we we're all part of the same community so it's like somebody say awesome oh yeah I know I remember we used to play ball over what's it called I remember when he did this I mean we actually used to hang out together really yeah you know for a time
[01:53:15] went to the same school whatever black folks have more of a connection with celebrity than white folk yeah I mean human beings are human beings so they have their circles but it's like celebrity is not a bigger deal so you know when baby face all them guys came out you know everybody was like well uncle why they used to sing in a cafeteria you know
[01:53:44] I'm trying to eat they say you know I mean that was just he was cool like that and it was it was really sad you know over the years that it just it just you know when he got sick he hasn't been sick for a long time but it just
[01:54:16] back back to even what Ms. Steinem said when I talk you know talking about these people because I wouldn't mention them if I didn't love them and respect them and that's why I wanted to give them their moment but Ms. Steinem just said you know I can't really think about what's and I'm not quoting her I'm paraphrasing I can't really think about what's what I'm going to miss because I'm not here but
[01:54:48] while I am here I want to make an impact so my mission because all three of those people I mentioned made an impact in my life directly and indirectly
[01:55:11] now my goal is to continue to make an impact and I have done my best to try it may be part of my limitation has been because I tried instead of just doing and with
[01:55:41] maturity you come to figure that out but I just wanted to acknowledge those three and Ms. Steinem is I never I don't think no I've never met her I think I was close to meeting her once we were in the same building maybe a couple of times but I never met her
[01:56:11] but Cassandra and Uncle Juan I knew them and so just thank them for for being impactful in my life all three of them and you're going to be missed and you know I just want all of you all to think along those lines about what kind of impact that you're going to make
[01:56:41] even if it's just in your house and just taking care of your family and your friends we also lost a classmate in high school Clifton Gregory it's always a shock to me when somebody passes away even if I see him in the hospital the moment that actually happens it's because you still don't know you always hold out hope that just maybe right
[01:57:11] but you know condolences to Clif and his family and to my classmates Lindblom Class A High School Lindblom High School Class 83 Clifton was a good dude and you know I ain't gotta be like buddy buddy with you I ain't gotta be up under you and all this to understand if you good people or not because your work speaks for
[01:57:41] you people that are friends are your best spokespeople and testimonies are stories that need to be respected so you know some people say he he wasn't really I never really saw him hang out with Clif that's nice of him to say it's like because
[01:58:11] he was my classmate and I went to school with him and I know that he did some cool stuff everybody goes through struggles nobody's perfect don't care to know what the imperfections were if I see you I'm happy to see you because we're still on this side right so now the next time I go to reunion I won't see him and I
[01:58:41] will not be happy about that nonetheless I just wanted to end with that because I into people that exist and to care about them and do what was said it's like
[01:59:11] even if a person actually dies they live on when you say their name or remember what they did alright so I'm going to end on that we'll be back to
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