Judge Pat Dugan: From Veterans Court to DA Candidate

Voice, Rise and Light story sold. We talk weekly. Is the vivor's share plugging, lean back fill the air. We talk weekly. The rhydom flow. From a hard streets to the studio, blow soon, then fill the closet to the scene. It's more than the Show's the in between. We talk weekly, we talk weekly, We talk weekly, and it's more than a show. Is the end between wixalk weekly, we talk weekly, wixalk weekly, and it's more than the show. Is the end between. Turn of doubt. We're light and light stories that sparking stead lines are light sa based through the stream road talk. No cap. It's more than a dream like so far will break in the hold for it, says Rise and Life story sold. We talk weekly. Is the rible share plugging leap back. Fill the air? Yeah, yeah, Yeah, we talk weally. It's definitely in the building. We talked weekly after the talk on the w P P M or p philade FA one on six point five FL. We talked weeklies after the talk with boy Charlee girgetting beautiful and beautiful, I can't hear you one more again. It was on There we Go, It was on, It was on, that was on. It all a dream uh, so we got a dynamic show for you today. I've been super busy today, man, I can't even get my thoughts together. I'm super excited about the day though, because we have a dynamic interview coming in that we have been anticipating for a long time, and we're super excited about just everyone who has been watching. So if you're watching right here now, make sure you share, like and subscribe, make sure you become a friend to a friend a friend that we talk week. Please make sure you continue to follow us and share. We've been making a lot of headway lately, so we want to make sure that you guys are following some of the things that we have been doing. So I'm super excited about that. So before I start with at anything, why don't start with you said, well, how was you thay? How was you thinking? My day was pretty cool? Had a lot of stuff to do. So just want to shout out to everybody for all your birthday wishes and all that. Thank you so much. Hold on one second, we just had a this is just acting out real quick. Hold on, we'll be right back, y'all. Happy bestday to you, Happy bestday to you, Happy bestday, Happy bestday, Happy bestday to you. So I'm at. Happy best. I love your more. I love that. So how about your birthday? What did you do? Actually my birthday was yesterday, but. Your events everything you celebrated this today. Right, I kind of did that yesterday. I did that yesterday and then. Today tomorrow, I'm gonna do some stuff. You know, my family, no. Doubt, no doubt you're going away again. What you're doing. Hanging out and stuff? No, no, I had some other plans, but I kind of got changed, you know, some family issues. Okay, you know it's not a birthday, it's a birth week. Yeah. Spread out, Yeah. Exactly, that's what you're supposed to do. I mean, yeah, okay. That's crazy. You get man, you gotta spread the floor right exactly. You can't it can't. You can't limit it to this one day. I know. I ain't been one day. For a wow m hm, that's funny. And so yeah, another lap around the sun. So I wish you more. You know that. We'll say, Millie Moore, one hundred years be one hundred years old? What would you do at a hundred be it they called it? You would then become a centenarian. I think that's what they call it, centurian centenarian or something like that. And so what would you do if you reached the hundred what would you do? Drinks? Drink? I know right that? Yeah, yeah, what do you do? You sit down laying on the beach, still getting your teen something like that, right, no he nah, no doubt, no doubt. What Happy birthday to you and all like this stuff. B yeah, absolutely, all right, lady at me, how's your day? How was your day? My day was great for me. It was filled with s L E E P. That's what I mean right now, so much needed our E S T. That's what I'm about these days. I just got on a crazy, crazy work schedule about twelve hour days from last six weeks. So today was the first day I had nothing on my schedule early in the morning to where I had to wake up, and I took advantage that, like nope, nope, nope, phone off everything. I just needed one of those days. So rejuvenation, yeah, as it should be, as it should be. Uh yeah for me, it's just been a long day, too long, a couple of days no sleep at all. I'm dragging to today. So hopefully once up you know our interviews come in, I'll pipe back up. I should have got my coffee. Durry and rainio. You know, I was sleeping. I don't even know. It's know what's happening. Definitely. I tried not to drink call. I try not to, but I won't drink. I try not to drink coffee at night because then I'll be up and then have to get up early again in the morning, and I can't get sleep. Yah, and I'm tired. That was the only thing I wanted to stay with Starbucks, but I ain't. I ain't get that. I was back to sleep, get some sleep, all right. So before we get to you, you're doing a sizzle early. What you're wanna what you're gonna do? What time is? Can you do the sizzle early? You ready for that? All right? So let's go to a break real quick so you can get prepared. Let's go to one of our folks. We're gonna go to my Lineo Lina. We've seen her in an event where she was talking having a nice little conversation, sit down conversation, which was pretty cool. Line on day rules. So she is a designer here in Philadelphia. She mostly designs a lot of at leisure where casual clothing for uh from Philadelphia, and I thought that was pretty interesting on summer talking. So you can see a lot of this on of course we talk weekly. But here's a little clut. We'll be right back at the show. I'm their club. Say it again, mamair Club, mam and there it's. A hard word, mamonere can y'all say that. The Mamoner Club. I started the mamon Air Club when I was pregnant with my son. I was learning so much and I didn't realize how many options that we had. Like growing up in the hood, you don't options not really presented to you. You just feel like you gotta follow suit or whatever people say you gotta do. And as I started to do my research, I'm like, okay, a lot of people could benefit from this information that I'm research and so I would just share all of the information that I was learning so other people can't realize that they got. They got options. It don't matter where you're from, it don't matter what your income level is, you got options. So describe what the Mamoner Club is. So the mammon their Club is a club for moms. That's on the mission that make their James a reality. A lot of times when you have kids, you feel like your world is over, and no, that's when your world just began, because like the true blessing to your children is a mom that's fulfilled. You know. So I don't believe in stopping your dream for anything. You gotta figure out how to balance both. And I don't like to say balance because when you think of balance, you're thinking like this right, and you just never really steady. I like to harmonize, like see how we can all flow together. And I just think that as a mom, you don't have to stop your life. Men don't stop their. Life when they have kids. That's when they go harder. And I feel like we can do the same thing too. So that was that. It was just an encourage moms. You got this, Listen, you got this. You done birth the whole human and you figured it out. That's the hardest job in the world. Nobody ain't telling me that you have to figure that out. I'm sure you can figure this business out. You know. We talked these after talking about eppm on to keep Philadelphia one on six twenty five US and we talked we these after talking with the boy break and Beautiful and the Beautiful and you already know what's coming up next, buddy. Yeah, we got the. Girls. Yes, sir, it's your favorite show. We Talk Weekly, so catch us on all social media major podcast platforms and subscribe so you never miss an update. You want to stay connected, stay entertained, and keep the movement strong. Support our content by making a donation on. Cashf at dollar stime, we Talk Weekly, or go to we talkweek dot com and donate via PayPal. No donation is too gray or too small. All right, so I guess third time is the charm. Congratulations are in order for Rihanna nasap Rocky, who welcomed a beautiful baby girl. So. Rihanna made the announcement on September thirteenth in a sweet social media post debut on the first photos of her holding her new baby, who was dressed in a pink onesie with cute pink ruffle stocks that took. Me all the way back to Easter when I was little. And then the second picture showed a pair of tiny pink silk baby boxing glove which was so cute, and the caption Red Rocky, Irish mayor September thirteenth, twenty twenty five, So the baby's birth comes four months after Rihanna's twenty twenty five that gall of red carpet baby bump revealed, and in an interview with Vogue for it's May twenty twenty two cover issue, Rihanna said, I always thought it would be marriage first, then a baby, But who the f says it has to be that way. I'm certainly not gonna let it get in the way of me being a mom. So Rihanna and A said racky. A is sad Rocky racky? Maybe that might be a name for the next. Baby, or if they had twins, it could be Rocky. They got three now, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's see. But Brianna and Asad Rocky already shared three share sons, three year old Riot and twenty three month old Riza. So we'll be the last one. They're gonna have enough. They got enough money to have another I think. So they're gonna have a trip. That's how much money they have? Another trial? Yeah? Why not? Speaking for the woman's body is not about money. She might be like, yeah, how much money she. Got, Yes, that's great. Pregnant for what? How many years long. Straight. No. But back in the day, you know, women had a lot of kids. They had. It wasn't I heard women today saying I ain't doing that. My pap Pap had like nine kids something. Crazy like that. Kids. My grandfather wanted ten, and my grandmother said, not, how to hear you want? So she had two girls and she adopted two boys. Close enough, all right. So. Kim Kardashian has seemingly responded to Rayj's claims that he is working with the federal government to drop the RICO case against her and her mother, Chris Jenner So. In a viral video circulating on x RAYJ can be seen during a livestream stating the federal rico I'm about to drop on Chris and Kim is about to be crazy. I'm talking about I'm on the news every day. I'm going to say a lot of ish. Ray J also adds that if anybody knows Kim and it's cool with her, they need to tell her now because this is worse than Diddy. So. Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organization laws were enacted to eliminate the infiltration of organized crime into legitimate organizations. The Department of Justice takes several takes several things into consideration when indicting defendants, including the decision to prosecute reco charges to combine related offenses which would otherwise have been prosecuted, they have to be prosecuted separately in different jurisdictions. So, according to sources, Kim Kardashian does not believe Regge's claims that he's working with the Feds and this is just another one of his stunts. Meanwhile, her PR team is not even addressing these allegations. So if they're not ramping up efforts to put out any statements, they're not trying to have reached out to any lawyers or anything like that, then you know they pretty much think this is just a bunch of you know, shenanigans. But this isn't the first time ray J has mentioned racketeering. When referencing the Kardashians during the interview on TMZ Presents the United States versus Sean Combs inside the Diggy Trial, ray J said, if you told me that the Kardashians are being charged for racketeering, I might believe it. So, you know, ray J has had a long standing beef with ex girlfriend Kim Kardashi and her mother Chris Jenner since the two thousand and seven beliefs of ray and Kim sex tape, with ray J claiming Chris Jenner orchestrated the sex tape and even threatened to sue them in the past. So interesting. Yeah, you got a lot of people saying this is not going anywhere, and you got some people saying, hey, we'll wait and see. It might be something. It's ray J is known for his little so it is hard to believe what's going on over there, but we'll. See that instead. Because right issue just saying that my thought process was, it's ray J. It's exactly exactly right, right right sometimes now it's it's it's sad that every time I hear a story with him now, I'm like, I feel like he just is seeking attention, Yes, exactly, anything to remain relevant, all right. So on a sad note, little somber but political activist and god mother Tupac Shakur Asada Shakur has died in Cuba and many you know, celebrities are paying tribute to her. Assida Shakur, whose. Real name was Joanne Deborah Chesmarar Cheese Mark reportedly died from health conditions and advanced age on September twenty fifth. But on May second, nineteen seventy three, Asida Shakur and two others were involved in a shootout with New Jersey State troopers doing a traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. Black Liberation Army member Zaid Malik Shakur and State trooper Warner Forrester were killed and Asida where Asada was critically injured. So in nineteen seventy seven, Asida was found guilty and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In seventy nine, Black Liberation Army members posed as visitors to the Clinton Correctional Facility where Asada was confined. They held two prison guardener prison guards hostage and assisted in her escape from custody. So she was on the run for several years before appearing in Havana, Cuba, after being granted asylum by then President Fidel Castro, and in twenty thirteen, the FBI placed Assada Shakur as the first woman on his most Wanted terrorist list, with a two million dollar reward for her capture. But while in Cuba, Asada Shakur had many writings detailing her life, her political activism, and maintaining that both her arms were up in the air during that traffic stopping that she did not shoot anyone. And then her book titled Asada and Autobiography, she wrote, it is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our change. A. Sada was seventy eight. Fantastic, fantastic. Let's give her a uh, let's give her a moment of silence real quick, sir. I respect her legacy, all right, Dan, give a shout of round of applause. Man, no doubt. She's just such an amazing work. And I think that I don't think she got her flowers enough, but I'm glad that you did this story on her to give her flowers. She's getting her she's definitely getting her flowers lately. Her due dillance just to birth such a phenomenal artist as well. So yeah, shout out to the side of she according, yeah, yeah, And I'm lilel Lawrence. And that was a sizzled ladies and gentlemen, I'm your boy. TEUs Gurdon with the beautiful and beautiful and this is we talk. Weecause after there talking the WPPM on p Philadelphia one six point five US and we talked weeklies. After the talk, we're gonna cut to a breaking when we come back, we got a dynamic interview. I don't want you to go anywhere because when we're talking about hip hop and we're talking about doing some amazing things in the community, we have a gentleman that's going to talk a little bit about that and some of the things that he's doing. So we're gonna go to one of our dynamic journalists. We'll be right back y'all after this. Hi, I'm Willow Jordan with you Civic News and I'm here with my. Grandfather Willie Jordan and g Pop. What brings you out tonight? Well, I'm here to discuss the importance of the election that's coming up and important the responsibility that we have to do is out, get out the vote. What is your role? I have wear many hats, but one is a community activist, and that means to keep people aware and make them informed on the issues of the day so they can come out and make a real good choice on voting for the right candidates. What are some of the issues you. See, housing, education, transportation. There's a lot of things. Anything that we do in our lives, it has to do with elections, politicians, elective officials making those decisions. The amount of time that you stay in school and the amount of days you stay in school is based on what some elective officials came up with. How important? How important is it to vote? It is very important. It's not just important, it's responsible. Voting shit is not a selfish activity. It's a selfiless You vote to help others. So as you help others, people help you and be a better world, a better city, a better country to live in. Where do some of your beliefs come from? Well, my belief is based on I guess I would first come from my home training. My parents told me the importance of civic responsibility, caring, loving, sharing, being involved, being responsible on your actions. Is there any positive knowledge you would give to the people who don't vote. I would tell them if they can't come up with a reason why they should vote for themselves, come up with a reason why they should vote for someone else, for their parents, for their children, for more street lights, how they want a better community? Do it for someone else. I'm Willow Jordan reporting from you Civic News, and I'm here with my grandfather Willie Jordan. Thank you, You're welcome. Hmm. That's our future we talked, because that's they're talking. A round of applause for that for the future. One more again, real quick. Happy best day, j Happy best day j you. Happy best day, Happy best day, Happy best day Jui. Whatever that was all right? So who do we have today? Who do we have to day? So we have the phenomenal doctor Greg Watkins aka Grouchy Greg. He is the founder of All hip Hop dot Com. With his partner Chuck Jigsaw Creekmer, Grouchy Greg built All hip Hop dot Com into the Internet voice of hip hop culture. Grouchy Greg attended the Art Institute of Philadelphia studying audio engineering and marketing and graduated from an with an Associated Association's Associates degree in Music, Business and Advertising. All hip Hop dot Com officially launched in nineteen ninety eight, winning numerous awards, including the Black Enterprises Rising Star Award and a coveted BET Award for Best Hip Hop Website, in addition to twelve be Et Website Award nominations, so please give a round of applause, a warm we talk quickly. Welcome to mister doctor, Greg Grouchy, Greg Watkins, welcome to the show. Are super excited to have you. Thank you, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And happy birthday. Thank you, thank you so much. They said, I'll call my teeth happy best today. That is scary great. Yeah, so how are you today? I'm doing good. I'm doing well. I cannot complain. How do I sound? Oh you sound phenomenon? Okay, yeah, no complaining, no complaining, you know, just working hard. You know, this is our twenty eighth year in business of running all hip hop. So you know, I'm thankful that as I was listening to you read the news, you know just how much hip hop culture is still driving everything in the mainstream. You know, I always joke I'm glad that I didn't decide to do alljazz dot com. Well, disrespect your jazz. I love jazz. Yeah, I was already saying, not that there's anything wrong with jazz, like, yeah, because I love me some jazz, but ye I love me some hip hop too. Yeah yeah, but but you know you just said, what was it you said thirty eight, twenty eight years almost thirty, just a little shy. But but your journey started at the age of six with you being intrigued by that, right, correct. Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't want to date myself, but I was around when hip hop, you know, kind of landed in everybody's community. You know, right now, it's ubiquitous, you know, it's the way we dress, it's the way we talk, you know, it's it's everything. Now it's part of you know, cultures worldwide. But there was a point in time where it was new, you know, where it was landing in the neighborhood. And so you know, you could identify people at the time by the way they dressed or the kind of music they listened to. You knew what they were into, you know. And I was a very you know, yeah, I was in maybe fourth grade when I caught on to hip hop, and I started off breakdancing, moved on to DJing, I wrapped, you know, it did a little bit of graffiti on paper, not not on walls or anything, you know, and you know, it just became my identity and my lifelong passion. And you know, I was lucky enough to start a record label when I was in high school. Right, I'm from Delaware, so I'm from from the area, and you know, the record label didn't do what I thought it was going to do. And you know, I ended up registering all hip Hop dot Com thinking that it was going to be an internet type of record label, and it turned into something much bigger than that. When I linked up with my partner, Chuck Chicksaw Creekmer and we you know, launched All hip Hop at nineteen ninety eight and here we are twenty eight years later. Yeah, exactly. And could you have predicted that hip hop would have the success that it's having now, especially when it started. When you look at hip hop when it first started and how you know, our I want to say, non black counterparts was trying to put it in a certain light to where almost trying to demonize it. Like where you see now is being respected with the fifty years of hip hop being celebrated. What are your thoughts on that, like the contrast and how it started out and how it was portrayed in the media and to how it's celebrated now. Yeah, I mean, it's an amazing transformation. You know, I was around when they had the no wrap work day, and you know, hip hop was not played on television at all. And it's amazing to see the journey that hip hop as a culture has taken around the world, and not just from the previous verticals mentioned, but now it's also used as a form of teaching. So teachers are making curriculums out of hip hop culture, They're using it to teach mad, they're using it to teach science. You know. So in addition to you know, it providing a living for many, you know, for hundreds of millions of people, you know, when you factor in record labels, record label owners, artists, graphic designers, you know, the entire hip hop industry provides a living for people like myself. But it's also you know, now being used to teach, which you know, if you know hip hop culture, there's five elements, breakdancing, turntablism, wrapping, dancing, and the fifth element, which is knowledge, you know, being educated. So it's great to see that all five of the elements of hip hop culture touched and made a mark on the world, you know, I mean, you know, here is an art form that was started by young you know African American young black kids in the ghetto and here it's gone all over the world. It's a very unique form of American expression born out of African Americans experiences here in the United States. Absolutely fantastic. I'm curious there's still conversation about who actually started hip hop? Right who actually started hip hop? If someone was to ask you that question, how would you lay out that framework? Oh? Well, I mean it's pretty simple to me because I'm working with a professor at the University of Delaware. We're actually writing a book about this that trace the lineage of hip hop and what made hip hop what it is, and it's very clear, you know, this was an art form that was started. You know, you can trace the roots of this hip hop culture back to slavery and the tales that slaves, slaves and former slaves would tell. They're called bad man tales, they're called trickster tales. And if you trace this type of storytelling through the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, it's very clear that it's an African American art form. So not to say that other people didn't contribute to it, or that other people weren't there when it was quote unquote king born black and brown people obviously are you know, one and the same in many regards when you trace the transatlantic slave trade into the different islands that are here, you know, Brazil, where slavery didn't end until the nineteen twenties. I mean, I don't want to go too far into me. You know, all of that that makes it up, but still, at the end of the day, the root form of it and the way it's expressed, the words that were used, the dialogue it, you know, it goes all the way back to bondage. You know. The funny thing about you saying that is I recently saw a video of a tribe in Africa that was doing something that was really close to what we would consider breakdancing, and it blew my mind that this is where and this was early this. I mean they traced this, I mean, you know, before we even thought what hip hop could be, right, and so you're talking about watching early videos from Africa of them literally really break dancing, you know, and that actually blew my mind. So when we think of ownership of this art, this craft of hip hop, there's there's conversation of do we actually even own it anymore? Right? I mean, we have when we the music that come out of it. We own the record labels and all of that. And then you know our Asian counterparts, they're breakdancing, just as you know they totally embraced the hip hop culture over there. Right, where do we fall in line with the ownership of the art and craft? So let me break this down a little bit. Right when it comes to ownership, if you trace the music business back to its origins, its origins start with the printing press, which was invented in Journey in fourteen eighty five or something like that. I don't know the exact year. But at the same time in that same century, the fifteenth century, and towards the end of that, you had the church, the Catholic Church, issuing what's known as the Papal Bulls. The Papal bulls gave Christians the right to go out and enslave people, specifically people in Africa who weren't Christians. So as the printing press is being developed and the first music starts getting printed as sheet music, which is why it's called publishing, right, you have a whole group of people who are being put into bondage as an industry is growing. Now as you follow this up into let's say, the sixteenth century, or excuse me, the seventeenth century, into the late sixteen hundreds, where you have the American colonies being established and slavery being established with it. There were laws that said slaves could not own slave owners owned anything that slaves produced. So when copyright laws were created in the sixteen hundreds to combat piracy, we were already in bondage and we could not participate in that industry. So as the industry grows all the way up into the eighteen hundreds and into the early nineteen hundreds, you've already been systematically excluded from it. So when you talk about things like ownership and you look at the time frame, you know, we're talking about maybe four generations, three four generations of people. When you trace it and you look at it like that, in this manner, in this infrastructure manner. This is why most of the time, young African American artists, young black artists, and even the brown artists, you know, you get locked out of it because you've been historically locked out of it on that level from the founding of it. And so the ownership question is very tricky. You know, you can't have a victim mentality. So you know, we have a lot of great examples of people who have taken ownership of their careers, you know. But at the same time, when you look at the current music industry, the structure of it, the supply chain, it's all being consolidated, even in this digital world, it's all being consolidated, and it's now concentrated into the hands of you know, there's only three major labels left. Just this week, the only African American CEO of any of the labels, Sylvia own STA Down. So not only is there no African American women, there's no women that are CEOs in the major label ecosystem. So ownership is a tricky thing, you know. Yeah, but but I will say that, you know, even in my journey, it was very important for me to be an entrepreneur and to own something, you know, which is why we still own one hundred percent of all hip hop. You know, we haven't sold any of it. We've never taken investment. You know, it's still in the hands of myself and my partner. It's a much more difficult path, I mean, but yeah, you know, we still own it. So ownership is important. Yeah, yeah, fantastic. When it comes to a different type of ownership, which I guess we could call quote unquote bragging rights. When you have. Certain people saying that we shouldn't include our non black counterparts. And when it comes in the conversation of top ten greatest or top even top fifty greatest or any greatest for that matter, hip hop artists, what are your thoughts on that? And that's just me, you know, without trying to name any names, because this conversation has been had before. Yeah, what are your thoughts on that? Should should we be including none? Absolutely? I mean, this is a gift that we created that the world has embraced, you know. I think the more important thing is just to make sure that the world, over the course of time, which is the purpose of what we're going to be talking about soon, you know, should not forget about the origins, the origin story. It's okay for everybody to embrace it. You know. It's the same thing with jazz. Everybody has embraced jazz uniquely, a unique another unique form of African American expression, just like do wop music, you know, is another unique form of African American expression that was created here in the United States based on the cultural experiences that we were having. You know, we just should not forget that. But the world has embraced hip hop. I mean there are amazing rappers from every race, creed color, all around the world and every nation, you know, So you just can't exclude people based on on their race. You know, absolutely absolutely. So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, your skills, because you had this group that you were a part of, the Outfit, right, Yeah, we talk a little bit about that. Yeah, that was a group that was on my label. My label was called Oblique Recordings, which is why I pitshed it out for all hip hop because people can't remember it much less spell it. And we were putting out records. I was putting the skill that I learned at school in Philadelphia to work, and we were releasing twelve inches. We were released to c D in nineteen ninety eight, which is a collector's item. Now you know, it's selling for two three hundred dollars on eBay. And yeah, I was producing music. I was a studio rat, you know. I thought I was going to be, you know, the next big hip hop producer in the game. And as I was distributing our records locally and nationally. I had a small office down here in Delaware, and I wasn't so business savvy. I mean, looking back, I was only maybe three years out of high school, right and the records that we were releasing were selling, but the distributors weren't paying me fast enough. My bills were coming in faster, more, more, more bill at the end of the month than money, and I didn't know anything about billing and receivables at the time. I didn't really understand the concept of NET sixty ninety, much less trying to negotiate some sort of upfront payment. So the records would go to the distributor, the distributor will put them in the store, the store would sell them, the store would pay the distributor what they owed the distributor was supposed to pay me. And it just didn't work out. So I turned to selling the music on the internet around nineteen ninety five, and from ninety five to ninety seven I realized, oh, man, listen, I know people sometimes think when you're sitting on the computer all day that you're into some weird stuff or you're a nerd, and I don't know what people were thinking, but I was selling records all around the world and I just I was completely sold. I was like, Yeah, this internet thing is is it? This is going to be the wave of the future. And it was. Yeah. And you were able to launch it in nineteen ninety eight. That's right, and your hard work paid off, you know with all of the nominations and the awars that you've been winning. Talk a little bit about that. Well, that's a team effort. Let's just start that. You know, always got to get props to the team. I mean, we've been blessed since we launched All Hip Hop to have had many amazing journalists come through our doors. They've gone on to win Pulitzer Prizes, They've gone on to write for Time, Billboard, you know, they're editor in chiefs at some of our competition now, you know. So it's amazing to see the impact that we've had, not just from a hip hop the mark that we've made on hip hop and artists in their careers and telling their stories, but also from the journalism side and the writers who have come through our doors. So I mean, it's just been incredible. It's been an incredible ride. You know, I always felt that because of hip hop culture, I was going to be able to do something great with it. I was on my path to being an entrepreneur. You know, I was going to make my music succeed no matter what it took. You know, I'm very resolute in that. I mean, you know, I've been doing it for so long, since childhood. I mean I was in my first recording studio professionally when I was in eighth grade, you know what I mean, paying my own money and recording and learning the process. So this has been my life's passion, but all hip hop, you know, really, I mean just amplified everything. I you know, to be so well respected around the world because of the brand and what we've done with it, it's just it's mind blowing. You know. I don't think my other career would have turned out this way, you know. Yeah, and with you know a lot of changes and things going on when it comes to AI and how that's like interrupting the industry, you know, with film and some things going on with R and B and different AI artists being created. How do you think do you think what that will have an impact on the hip hop industry? Almost definitely, you know, I'm a member of the Recording Academy, which is the governing body for the Grammys. And just this past Thursday was Music Advocacy Day, and the three pillars that we went to our local Congress and our local senators to talk to them about. Number one was AI. Number two is something called the No Fakes Act, which stands for Nurture, Original Foster or Keep Entertainment Safe no fakes. And that's an act that Congress is there's bipartisan support in Congress to prevent deep fakes. So, right now, if somebody changes jay Z's voice, because he's given over his right of publicity in some regards by being a celebrity, people can use his voice and make different versions of jay Z. Maybe they can't exploit it commercially, but I guess you know. There is a certain level when you become a public figure of surrendering your image and likeness over to the public, which is why the pop ROSSI can come up and take pictures of people and then sell them sell those image. Right if you are a private citizen and somebody creates a deep fake of you, let's just say, cussing out your boss, and you get fired, there's no real protection for you or your voice in those scenarios. And so we saw that play out in the last election, where there were robo calls going out faking Joe Biden's voice and other people's voices to try to sway the election one way or another. And so this act is trying to give the general population some protection against deep fakes. From the AI standpoint, we were advocating for better protection of artists intellectual property, which is now being sucked up by Suno and Udio, which are the two biggest AI music generating platforms. Now. Don't be wrong, I like I use them. I use Suno for a variety of experiments and different use cases, right, but it should not be allowed to, you know, suck up somebody's whole catalog, train on it and then you know, generate money from it. I mean, these are companies that have billion dollar valuations. We're going through this battle right now with open AI perplexity. You know, these companies that come in and scrape our content. They say they're going to give you a citation. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but it's worthless because the citations don't drive any traffic back to us. Google just recently introduced zero click searches, so you get all your answers there. You don't have to leave Google where they used to synthesize our information and then send people back to us. And so now you're seeing lawsuits Billboard Penske, which owns Billboard, Vibe, the Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, a bunch of big mass because they just filed a lawsuit against Google. I mean Google, as you know, twenty different webs but Google is suing pseudo for training. I mean, it's the irony of it all, you know what I mean. And so if you are a smaller operator, you don't have the money to sue Open Aye there worth fifty billion dollars, you know what I mean. They've got deep pockets. So what recourse do you have? So you know, I work with about one hundred and fifty black owned publishers with an organization called bo mecI Black Owned Media Equity Sustainability Institute, and you know, we work together to work as a collective to try to fight for our rights when it comes to this stuff. You know, you bring up an interesting conversation as it relates to AI right and all of the conversations that's happening. I think AI is innovating so fast that some of the policies and laws that they're trying to create with them, you know, it's already dated. Right. So I think what they're trying to do is trying to broadly find some type of policy a law that will cover all of all of the potential issues that it may face. Right. Because now there's a huge conversation based around uh that that that that I've been hearing a lot based around the the training model of it, right, because if you're training and it's a safe example yourself and you're going using it, do you then relinquish, right, some of that I p if you're using a platform that's made the train on the information that you're giving it, right, And I see a lot of the debates. I see them, and all of it is relevant. It's just hard to it's hard to put in words something that's innovating so fast that may be different when you started the conversation initially, you know, and so yeah, I think it's definitely something to continue to have conversation about. And then you know, well we'll definitely yeah, yeah, yeah. Man. So that said, right, you're in the space of the ecosystem of educating and you're going into the schools and colleges and you're in you're talking about a lot of this, right is part of the conversation based around AI. Is that in like your lectures, is that in a lot of your training, your training model. Absolutely, you know, we talk about it because the students are using it, and you know, sometimes the faculty are the ones who are behind on using it. You know what I mean. For the students are use in it. The faculty may be from an older generation and they either don't understand it or they hear these types of conversations, and it can be quite over quite frankly, could be overwhelming for anybody, right, But at the end of the day, it's here. It has to be used. And already there are studies out there that show how fast our communities are falling behind and adopting it. And what ends up happening is you've got whole job sectors that are going to be replaced by automation and AI that may have been jobs that we were going after, you know. And so I just think it's a important that the younger people do study it, do learn it, do understand what vibe coding is and all of these new types of ways of using AI to create and run a business. You know, there is definitely positive uses for it as a business owner. But then there are, like you were saying, there's this whole evolving industry that's moving faster than the legislation. Not to turn the subject to drugs, but it's very similar to synthetic drugs. They create a law banning a certain combination of compounds for a synthetic drug. The drug guys are out there making a new combination that's not covered by the law that they can get away with selling. Hundred That's a great parallel. Uh, this is my last question on it, and and I didn't mean to jump into this, but it was a natural progression with the conversation that you were having. There's uh, Timberland have been part of this conversation. And now when we talk about to to in context, because I want to put this in context, right, the idea of fair right, what is fair? What is what is on a level that we understand what that is emotionally right? When we have people that are now or platforms that are now creating, uh, these AI avatars that are artists now that potentially are receiving monetary, you know, support because they're producing and creating you know, hip hop or even just music per se. What what is your take on that? You know, do you. Feel like that's still a creative concept? What do you feel like it's still issues there because now you have models that are trained off of everyone else's music that's making funds that now these artists are no longer getting potentially placing them out of the market at this point. If that makes sense, Yeah, it makes total sense. So let's put this into two buckets. Okay, bucket one. When we talk about fair is fair use right. Fair use is a law. So the fair use law says, if I am using a piece of copyrighted work and I transform it into what's called a transformative work where the original work is so different than the transformation into the new work, then this is a brand new work and that's considered fair use of an original piece of content. And so what's happening is the AI companies are using the fair use doctrine on any number of levels, whether it's music, video, writing, anything, and they're saying, we're sucking up all of this information, all this intellectual property and it's being transformed into something new. So this falls under fair use right now on the AI avatar side of things with what Timberland did when we talk about fair okay, Now that's a different bucket where it's more of a moral conversation that you can have an opinion on. You know, I think it's creative to create an AI artist and make something that's different and new and it's smart and it doesn't talk back to you, and you keep one hundred percent of the money and you know you don't you manage it totally different. I get it, But is it fair when if that artist, say it gets a million plays on Spotify. The way the money is counted up is the money goes pretty much into a big bucket and you may have you know, five thousand artists who only got one thousand plays on Spotify. Their money isn't gonna come out of that bucket. They're not gonna get anything because there's minimal thresholds AI artists is gonna get money. So, you know, how do you get to a point where first of all, Dzer, Spotify, all of these DSPs digital streaming platforms, there's and any one of those probably about twenty five percent of the music is AI generated. They try to fight it, they take it down, it comes back up. Spotify was caught making fake artists and putting them on playlists and pushing those playlists to people because it's a way to generate revenue. So, you know, it becomes this whole h question of legal framework and then what is your moral stance on it? You know, you may want music that's only created by humans. There may people be people who don't care. I can tell you one thing though, after sitting in with the Congress peoples where I told them, I said, if you don't change these laws so that artists, real artists can have a livable wage from their music career, all of the music you consume is gonna be AI generated because eventually artists are gonna say this isn't worth it? What am I doing this for? We're still gonna consume music. And then it rolls up into these bigger questions of now where, feeding into maybe five companies who have a monopoly or music and streaming and the record labels, because you know, the record label's own pieces of all of these companies. So yeah, no, you know we're gonna I'm gonna bring you back on the show because I think this, this conversation alone can have its own lane, right uh. And so I appreciate you digging in or having this discourse with me as it relates to that, because I think this is a new thesis that needs to happen. Right. So, so I'm gonna put a I'm gonna put a peg right there because I want to get into some of the things you're doing and the event, right, I would be remiss if I didn't do that, because that's why we have you on here, brother. But the the you know, the academic conversation I love to have, especially with you know fellow you know brothers that's really in those spaces that can have that kind of conversation. So kudos to you, my friend. So let's talk. I'm gonna pull this up real quick. I'm want to talk about your event that's coming up, and I thought that it was amazing hip Hop Cultural Summit, So let's talk a little bit about that. Yeah, So this is our third year. So I'm on the State Council for the Arts here in Delaware. I was a say is humbly, but I was appointed by the governor and the mission. We look at where all of the money for nonprofit organizations, where it's going, how it's going there, who gets what? You know. I work with a board of people who you know, have input into that. And so one of the things that I wanted to accomplish immediately going in was more hip hop related events that center around educating the general, you know, the community about what hip hop acts actually is. It's not just what you hear on the radio. It's way more than that. It's not just what you see on social media. It's obviously way more than as we've been discussing. And so I approached the Delaware Art Museum, which is the biggest art museum in the state of Delaware, and a friend of mine works there running cultural programming is Valletto, And as said, is, you know, what do you think about having an event here centered around hip hop where we treat hip hop like what it is. It's an art form, it needs to be in the museum. And he was with it. The museum director, Molly Giordano, she was with it. And year one we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop culture and we had Grand Master Kaz founding father you know, Cold Crush Brothers. We had mc shah Rock, we had Joe Gonzo, we had Grand Wizards, Theodore and year two the theme was hip Hop and Activism, hip Hop and social justice, so we had Flavor Flame from Public Enemy was the keynote. We had Hakim Green, who does twenty four hours of piece in Newark, New Jersey, member of Hip Hop Channel Live. We had Do It All Kelly, who's a councilman in Jersey City. We had Pam Africa as a panelist and Mumia Abu Jamal called in and we discussed hip hop as a change for an agent for social change. So this year the theme is hip Hop and Race, illustrating race through hip hop culture, and so we take over the entire museum. The museum is going to have artwork all around the walls centered around race, and then all throughout the day there are panel discussions. Panel discussion one I'm doing about a beach here in Delaware, a black owned, segregated beach where Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder Account, Basie, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cook, they all performed here. It's gone now, but we're doing a history on that. The second panel is hip Hop and Race where we have a multicultural group of panelists. Roxy Romeo from Power ninety nine is moderating it. Steve Lobel, white Jewish manager who's worked with everybody from Bone Thugs and Harmony to Bad Baby, I mean just eight. He's run DMC, He's a legend. We've got DMC as the keynote. My partner in all hip Hop Chunk Jigsaw Creekmer going to be doing a Q and A with DMC and run DMC as you know, first hip hop group to cross over, first hip hop group to be on the cover Rolling Stone, you know, really groundbreaking group when it comes to putting hip hop on the world stage. So the whole day is filled with hip hop culture. We've got an all female breakdance and Truth that's going to be doing exhibits throughout the day right in the museum. We've got food trucks outside, food in the museum. You know, it's a whole day of hip hop culture. It's a really dope, evet fantastic man. I think that's one of the events that I believe that we were talking. I believe we talked weekly. May pop up up there and get some get some footage and talk to you guys. If you're just tuning in, ladies and gentlemen, this is this is a gentleman with him. We have a tremendous amount of respect for very educated brother from All hip Hop dot Now that that in itself, All hip Hop dot Com has been part of I will say that you guys are the culture. Are part of the culture. You guys have been at this for a long time, and so I just want to appreciate you for coming on the show. And one thing that we say on the show is once you come to the show, you're a friend to the show. So you're always welcome to come back. But because of your platform, let's talk a little bit later and we'll definitely connect. Let's see what kind of partnerships or things that we can do to you know, support each other because I like what you guys are doing and we can cement that in some type of way. You know, I love those to you, my friend, absolutely absolutely, So why don't you let everyone know how they can get in contact with you. Let's talk about the event one more time, because there's something that I don't want anyone to miss. But how can they get in contact with you and all that little stuff. So if you're listening and not watching, which could very well be happening, it will be all All hip Hop dot Com slash Summit a su MMI. You can go there and register its own ten dollars, you know, and it's a full day of hip hop culture. DMC is gonna be there signing autographs, signing books and all that kind of stuff. So it's a good opportunity to, you know, get in touch with a real hip hop legend. And the event is October eighteenth from ten am to five pm at the Delaware Art Museum that's in Wilmington, Delaware. And again you can go to All hip Hop dot Com slash Summit s u m m I T on social media. I'm at Grouchy Greg g R o U c h y g r e G. On Facebook. You can find me. It's just Grouchy g R o U. C h y fantastic, fantastic. And you know I'm already biased because you know my name is Greg to my friend. Greg's shout out to that. So one, I want to wish you much success in my brother and anything that you believe that we could we talked weekly can do for you or with you in addition to you, let us know and we'll definitely make sure we make that happen. Man, kudos to you, my friend. Is it something else you would like to say to the people who are listening, watching and engaging before you leave? I would like to just say thank you till we talk weekly for having me. It's been a great conversation. I'm very appreciative of you lending your platform for me to come on and talk. And anytime you want to work together or do anything, it's always with and never before. I'm always with it, brother, So thank you very much. I just want to say thank you and happy birthday. Happy best day, no doubt. All right, my brother, we're gonna reach back out because we have our end of the year wrap up. I think you would be good to come on board and just you know, spend some time. But it's coming come over to Philly. You're not too far. It's coming to Philly, you know, all right, no doubt. All right, y'all, thanks for tuning in on with you guys to come go anywhere. When we come back, we have another dynamic interview someone with my tremendous amount of respect for and we're gonna talk a little bit definitely about civic so we'll be back y'all after this. I appreciate you, my brother. You take care of yourself. Yeah, no, Reporter Ella presents a new recipe that can help me looking over to you, Ella. Thanks fellow. Now that follows upon us. What's not a better way to start the fall season than an easy and simple recipe. Pumpkin bred is the most delicious and easiest food you can make for yourself, family, and friends, and your community. Take a look, right, we're gonna make pumpkin bread, so make sure you screenshot this recipe and let's get started. First, preheat you out into three fifty degrees in one of your bowls. Mixture flour, baking soda, bacon, powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice with your fork. Mix now, if you're second full, mix your sugar, oil and apple sauce with a whisk. Once everything is mixed together, at your pumpkin and mix again. When everything is mixed evenly, combine both mixtures together. Make sure you scrape everything out so nothing is wasted. Now mix evenly until there's no lumps. After that, you want to set that aside. And grab your breadpan. Lather some butter all around and add a little flour and spread it around until it looks like this. Now you want to pour the bread batter into the breadpan. Sure you scrape everything out so nothing is wasted. Cut a line in the middle, and it's ready for the oven. Make sure you were up and mix and let the bread bake for sixty minutes. Once the sixty minutes is up, take it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes. When the breadpan is safe to touch, use a straight edge to separate the pan and bread. This stuff is optional, but if you have. Like sliced the bread into thick slices and it should look something like this, you are all done. Dig in and enjoy your pumpkin bread. This pumping about it is a perfect way to feed your family, friends and your community. WELLA, what did you think about this recipe? I think that this recipe is perfect for the horizon fall weather. Substituting the egg with the apple sauce is a great option for others with an egg allergy. Thanks Wella. I'm Ali Kanzon, reporting for Youth Civic News. Back to you, Ello, We talk weeklies after they're talking to WPPM and P Philadelphia one O six point five FM. We talked weeklies after they talk with your boy Charles Gregory and beautiful and a beautiful lady. And we are here today with another dynamic interview which I'm super excited about because we're gonna talk a little bit about some civics. We're gonna talk about the importance of community. We're gonna talk, We're gonna do the work that we have always been doing for the community. Yet sometimes you don't have the opportunity to hear the voices and understand how people really are humanizing people instead of seeing all of the noise that's out there. And so what we'd like to do is just bring them here so you get opportunity to hear who they are. And without further Ado says, who do we have to date? Who do we have to date? So we have the awesome honorable Judge Patrick Dugan. He is a former president judge of Philadelphia Municipal Court, a decorated Army veteran, and a lifelong public servant. Raised in Frankfort by a devoted single mother, he went on to earn his jurisd doctor from Rutgers Rutgers Camden, before serving over twenty three years in the Army in Army Reserve, where he earned the Bronze Star in more than two dozen awards. Appointed to the bench in two thousand and seven, Judge Dugan served seventeen years, creating nationally recognized diversion programs, including Philadelphia's renowned Veterans Court, which effectively reduced recidivism to under ten percent. As President Judge, he led the Court through pandemic. Through the pandemic, authorized the groundbak breaking Eviction Diversion program, which saved more than forty six thousand families from displacement. In twenty twenty four, he stepped down to run for District Attorney. Now he's here with us to discuss his life, journey and campaign. So let's get a warm we talk. Wekly Welcome to the honorable Judge Patrick Dugan. How are you, How are you, my friend? How are you well? Thank you for that introduction and the applause. Thanks for having me. Absolutely absolutely one. I'd like to welcome you to the show. And you know, one thing we like to talk about or like to discuss, is, you know, just some of the things that's happened in the communities, right, things that are affecting the community. Try to disrupt those news deserts, so to speak, the information that people are not getting and sometimes tend to just you know, turn on social media and this is what it is and they believe it, you know. And so we'd like to say, you know, this is the person, This is who this person really is. You know, this is who you potentially will be voting for. This is the person who will be in a leadership position that you may need to talk to a come in front of one day. So I'd like to welcome you here for being a part We talk weekly, you know. So before we get into all of that, let's talk a little bit about one. You know, who are you when you think of you as honorable judge? Right before the judge? Right, who are you? Who are you? Well, my mother said, my first name is not judge. My first name is pat. When I was a kid, I was called Patty. Patty Dugan born in Fairmount. We moved to Frankfurt when I was about ten years old. My mom thought she was moving on up. She was a single mother. We moved to sixteen hundred block and Margarett here to martat writer or a dox hell stop. So I'm a kid that played on the l I'm a kid who played wire ball, stickball, half ease, played basketball at the playgrounds, was right there at the Whitehall Projects. So I'm a city kid. I've lived here my whole life. The only time I didn't live here in Philadelphia is when I was serving our nation, which were at least I had five years overseas Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, South Korea. So I'm Philly born and bred. I mean, my campaign literature since I've been running the very first time always says that Dallas sucks. I'm sorry to those cowboy fans, but I'm gonna die hard. You know that's who I am. A sports fan. But I just love our neighborhoods and I want to do the best thing that I can. My mom, God rest her soul, is is my hero. When we talk about who's our heroes, that Mike Schmidt, Michael Jordan Now and Iverson, Oh, I love those I love those guys, but my mother was my hero. So when I was a kid in Fairmount late sixties, you know there's tensions in our street. We had the demonstrations up at Gerard College. We had riots on broad streets, all that stuff going on. So we're in Fairmount. I'm on sitting on the steps at twenty two eleven Paris Street, just where my grandmother lived, and it was one of those times where her mom needed to be at her mother's house. So that's where we were. And there's a kid riding a bike, a young black kid riding his bike as fast as he could in front of our home down the street, and he's being chased by the old heads in the neighborhood and they catch them. And we had to eat those those riot boards that were outside, those things that the police put up when there's a parade, and all those big old yellow wooden ones. And they picked up one of those boards and they started beating them. I'm sitting on stuffs with my mom. My mom jumped up, ran down, gotten between that board and those old heads and protected that little kid. Brought that kid to our steps, pushed those old heads away, brought them over with his bike, and waited till the police arride. So my mother didn't have to tell me what to do. She showed me what to do. And that's what I've been as a man, as a power trooper, as a judge pretty much is the reason why I'm running for DA getting off the damn step to do this. You know, I wanna I know, right shot, I'm gonna send the pauls real quick and shout out the mom right there, you know, because my mom, Jackie shout out to mom. You know. Uh yes, so so moving so with that as an understanding, right and still pulling back the layers of yourself, Who Patrick Dugan is? What ins from that? What influenced you that from the beginning to say, you know what, this this justice, this criminal justice space or this law base space is something that I believe I want to be a part of. What influenced that. So it's being a city kid, it's hadn't been in the army saying that, you know, Pat, Pat Dugan from the neighborhood of in Philadelphia. I'm the same as that kid who was living in rural Alabama, or the guy who was riding horses in Texas, or the kid from Oakland, because we lived together. No matter what our race, what our religion was, what are what kind of economic background, We're all the same. We all want the same thing. I just want to be safe. We want to be with our families, we want to be able to provide for them, we want to be able to laugh and dance. And I saw that particularly in the army, and I brought that back with me as a man, that we're all the same, we don't want the same thing, so we got to cut through our differences. And as a judge, that's why I love the diversion programs that I was heavily involved in, because we were able to peel the onion away. What's making this guy go in and steal stuff from a store, what's making this guy being violent with his family members. Why is this person driving his vehicle under the influence. So you get into the root causes and then we try to help fix those root causes, help that individual figure it out as well provide them with the tools, and that's what I love to do. We did these wrap around services and we helped so many people. We involve their families and we turned around and saved so many lives. And as a judge having that power up there, it just felt so good to be able to help people that I just again, it was such a passion of mine. But I was also one of those guys when somebody came in and they were being violent, that we had to make sure they were being held accountable. To go around shooting people carjacking, then yes, you have to be held accountable. But people who we could help and people who deserve that second chance, people who we could seriously help, let's do it. So one of the things I did I went into Greaterford Prison. I would take my people in front of me in my courtroom in Veterans Court. We'd get in a van and go to Greaterford. It's called sci Phoenix now and we'd go behind bars and talk to the lifers. Those men comer glasses up there. He's an eighty year old man, he's blind, he's in there for murder. Well, what a great mentor he is to other people in the criminal justice system because he's trying to teach them don't be my sell me and he took peer mentoring classes. He's got a bunch of guys in jail, and he would speak to the guys in front of me so that they would would not be his cellmates. And that's the kind of things that I love to do to help people turn the life around, so we're not destroying them plus all their family members. Because you put one man in jail, there's ten to fifteen other people affected by that person being in jail. So we got to stop that. But we got to put those people who run around shooting our kids as well. We got to put them in jail. I agree with that, and that's fair. I want to talk about this because this stood out for me. Say, in twenty nineteen, Judge Dugan was elected President Judge by his peers. During this time, he guided the court through the challenges of the twenty twenty pandemic, authorized the eviction Diversion program. You talked a lot about the version, but this program helped over forty six thousand families remain in their homes and secure nearly three hundred million dollars in the rent. We have to talk a little bit about that. Yeah, that's something I'm super proud of. And I had a great team in Philadelphia Municipal Court. My fellow judge who was my supervising judge, I was the president judge and he more or less worked for me. But him and I with our staff, as well as the landlord tenant lawyers, all the folks out there were trying to assist people as there were you know, people were looking to a victim. City Council we got together and came up with the Eviction Diversion Program. So, yes, forty six thousand families in the City of Philadelphia were not evicted during COVID. And the part that I insisted on a lot of people who weren't getting paid the rent are people with one house, one investment house. So if they're not getting the mortgage, if they're not getting the rent to pay their mortgage, they're going to lose that house. They're going to lose that investment. So I said, we got to have a program where they're getting paid. So three hundred million dollars over three hundred million dollars went to the landlords. So we pleased both sides. I mean, it was COVID people couldn't pay the rent, but we can't go ahead and stiff the landlords. So we got together and did it for both and that program is still going on evictions now in the City of Philadelphia. There's a great process that people go through that people try to step up and help both sides, and I'm super proud of that I'm super proud of Judge Matt Wolf who's up on the Commonwealth Court now and all the staff members who assisted and that I'm very proud of that. Now you talk about the diversion programs and the things that you've been involved with, which I think is an excellent transition to talk about to start going to start talking about some of the things you're doing now. But when one of the things that we pride ourselves in is the discussion about civics and how important that is to the community. When someone asks you what civics is to you or what does it mean to you? Right, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? And let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah, first thing that comes to my mind is being involved in your own community right there where you live. And I'm talking about the simplest thing is, So there's trash on the street near your home, trash on the street near your school. You know what, pick it up. You didn't put it there, But we all can bend down and pick up that trash and put it in a can. We can also all come out and vote. Elections have consequences. We see that every day. Sixteen points sixty one percent of the people in the city of Philadelphia that are eligible to vote voted in the springtime. To me, that math is eighty three point six thirty eight three point thirty nine percent of the eligible voters stayed home in the springtime. Your civic duty is to vote. Not every human being that's walked this earth has had the ability to vote. It's a privilege. We need to take advantage of it. We all have opinions, we all complain, we all say this is that we all got folks, get out and vote. Get out and vote. I think that's super important. But get involved, mingle, talk to your neighbors, cross the street and talk to that guy who you don't politically go along with. Just go talk to them because his views there might be way different than yours, but we agree on about eighty percent of the stuff out there. So talk to your neighbors. I think that's important. Yeah, what do we say to like, because sometimes we hear from the community, Like we hear people that say, like, well, my vote doesn't count, So why am I even going out to even vote? Because they're gonna elect who they want to elect anyway, No. They're not. That apathy has to stop. If you look at the numbers you come out to vote, and each one of us have ten twelve people in our sphere that we could pull out to vote. I know that I could call up my kids and I'm proud. I got six grown kids. They all have spouse's significant others. Wait, you're gonna give me a standard old I got thirteen grandkids. Wow, and my family. I'll be honest with you. When we take a photo looks like the United Nations. So we're just our thanksgivings are great. But I know I could call them all up and say, listen, tomorrow, you need to go vote, and they will. We all have those folks in our life. You're coworker, drag them out to vote. We have to get in mild because if sixteen percent of us continue to vote, I think that's one of the problems that we have in politics is two party system. We get extremes on both sides, and again, the vast majority of those who are kind of closer to the mill, you know, we stay home, we shrug, and we wind up with extremities in politics, and the two sides will not compromise anymore. And that's just a shame that does happening in our society. So I'm urging people get involved. Let's take it back all of us and it can be this side, that side, but we all need to come together unify my political party right now. I'm a Philadelphia That's truly who I am. Yeah, so you you ran in the primaries, and you you didn't win in the primarys banked well, a lot of people didn't come out to vote, and that was, you know, the issue that we were just discussing. So what I guess, is there a plan. That you've already been working on to do differently from a campaign plan, you know, going out and you know maybe knocking on more doors or has anything changed and. You've been talking to somebody because knocking on doors is our number one thing that we're doing. Doing more digital, more social media and canvas, and we're going to be banging on doors where you get a little army starting out there, where you go hit every every door that we possibly can. In the general election, there are now two hundred and fifty thousand more people eligible to vote than we're in the primary because in Pennsylvania it's a closed primary, so all the independents were not able to vote. So with a quarter of a million more people eligible to vote, there's a whole new pot of voters that are out there. So I'm certainly going to try to appeal to them and urge those who stayed home to come out again. We all have an opinion on it, what's going on in the direction to city, and you know, come on out and let your voice be heard. If it's not with me, I'm not even going to tell you to stay home. I want people to vote, I really do. And I saw it firsthand. I was in Iraq in two thousand and four and I was part of the program there to help local Iraqis vote. They walk through bombs, you know, they stood in line where death threats were there to vote, be the first group of people who could vote in their country. And what they do is they'd come in after they voted, they'd put their finger in a purple ink well and come out. So they'd come out showing their purple ink on their finger. And people died to vote and it was just an amazing process. It was over eighty percent of the people came out to vote there for the first time, and it just felt so good to be part of giving that voice, and when I was quoted in the paper by Jill Porter, one of the Philadelphia Daily News reporters, years ago, saying, I want to come home to Philly. I want to have a cheese steak, it's the Eagles, and get people out to vote. And it truly is something I want to do. And it's out there. I said it, and it's in the paper, so it must be true. All Right. I want to because you brought that up. Because you brought that up, I might get you in trouble with this question. But cheese steak. Who has the best cheese steak? Fill? You know? I gotta tell you there was a place that shut down years ago. It was Biados at twenty fifth in Paris. That's really old school, but that's been shut down for years. I like Gym's at Fourth and Yeah. I like gyms fourth and South. That's safe. Okay. There's ten other places that if I'm driving by them, stop And whether it's uh the one on Snyder John's, whether it's Max's, whether I'm telling you I was at Larry's uh out of Saint Joe's College, the other than at belly Busters. Man, that put me. That put another into on my waist whiz without for. Me, it's a mess. But that's what I love. That's funny. Well, at the very least you share like interest but with somebody ahead. Yeah, and we we've had, you know, several candidates that have come on the show and and they've run you know, different capacities. And one of the things that they often talk about is when it comes to voting down down ballot. So you're running as an independent, what does voting down ballot look like for maybe somebody that might be a Democrat but they want to vote for you, And like, how did they. How does that look like? If I guess you're you're running as a Republican candidate, but it's the other and I don't I don't know how that works. So let's the The Republicans did a write in campaign in the springtime for me. I was like, you know what, I'm going to win the primary and I became the Republican nominadever seven thousand, more than seven thousand writing votes that were cast for me, and it was successful in Pittsburgh. The last cycle, the same thing happened in the district Attorney's office. The losing candidate and the Democratic primary, they wrote him in on the Republican side and he won in the general. So that's where somebody came up with this idea and they did it. It wasn't something I sat down and talked with anybody or something I'm not going to do, you know. But then after the primary, I had so many people come up to me. I'm trying to sit down in North Walwood on the beach with my grandkids, or I'm in a grocery store or target here and filling people kept coming up with me, you got to do it, you got to do it, you got to do it. And I said, well, you know what, I'm going to do it, and I'm running. I'm calling it a unity campaign. If you're a DEMOC, if you're a Republican, if you're part of the Forward Party, to Working Families Party, a Libertarian, I don't care what party you are. My main purpose is to be the disc attorney for all people. I am not. When I win this thing, I'm not going to be the disc attorney for Republicans. I'm not going to be the district attorney for Democrats. I'm not going to be the disc attorney for Working Families Party. I'm going to be the disc attorney for Philadelphia, all Philadelphia. There's nothing about the political party when it comes to what are we going to do with these allegations of a crime. It's all about the justice on the streets. That's really what it is. So I'm truly running as a Philadelphia It's got nothing to do with a party. So what you're saying is how that looks is for the voter when they go to vote, if they're voting for you, and they do like say they vote Republican. For ye, they are Democrats voting. But they vote for you as the Republican candidate for DA, but everything else is Democrat, You'll still be working with if those Democrats are elected in the other positions, you'll still be working with. Absolutely. I mean so as a judge, I worked with Republicans that you know, in terms of fellow judges and anybody else in the system. Of course, I didn't talk to elected officials trying to talk about, you know, the directions of the law and all that. So absolutely, party it's blind to me. And you know, it's it's fine for people to come in and vote for the Republican nominee because it's truly only a name only, that's what it is. I'm still Pat Dugan, so I'm truly running for all Philadelphians. Fair enough, fair enough, you know. One of the things that sometimes I get, I get fussed that, but I say, one of my favorite Republicans Republicans was David. A good friend of mine, fellow pirate trooper. Yeah, he was. He's such a non traditional Republican and he used to do or be in spaces that most Republicans wouldn't be in. And I actually seen him do a lot of work, right, And I always said that although I'm a registered Democrat, that I'm for the people who are doing the work for the people, right and so so to that point though, right, because you are giving me that vibe right, the non traditional Republican at that point, because that's what you're running for. So for someone I want you to just walk people through that process. For a staunch Democrat, right, that that understood that you used to be a Democrat, right, technical technically right or formerly a Democrat, now you're running as a Republican. So for a launch Democrat that will be looking at this interview, how do you explain that you switched parties into now vote for you when you're no longer who they identified with, so to speak, the party who they identify. How do you explain it to someone? Right, So people, you know, think I switched jerseys. In wait, did you switch? You're still I am still a registered Democrat and I am a registered Democrat who won the Republican nomination. It wasn't something I saught they presented it to me. So my the alternative was that I turned down the being on the general election ballot, and then the current disc attorney would be unopposed, and you know, the Republican Party could have put somebody else on it. There was no plan to do that. Interesting, So I just felt that. Democracy, in the birthplace of America, there should be somebody else running in the general election for such an office as the district attorney's office. So that's why I'm doing it. And again, I know what people, I hear people. I know how the politics are left right, so many fanatical people. And you're a Democrat who the Republican. Yes, exactly, I'm still Pat Dugan from Fairmount and Frankfurt, still the powatroopers, still the guy who did diversion courts. I just want to make sure that those diversion programs continue. They haven't really continued much in the last eight years. And they also want to hold those people running around shooting our kids on the playground. I want to hold them accountable the first time. So for so for those who might have fear, right, since you were written in by Republicans, but those who may have fear that you may share life views, right, what do you say to those people that are extremely nervous, especially as it relates to a certain party that has galvanized certain people to fill a certain way, because because for me, you know, we try to ask questions that some may ask, right, we don't judge right because again for me, if you're working with the community and you're doing right by the community, that's who we want out there protecting a community. Right. But then you have the life the lifers, so to speak, of a party who's affiliated to a party that no matter what it is, who it is. If you're a Democrat, I'm voting Democrat. If you're Republican, I'm voting Republican. Right, you're in this hybrid kind of position. So I guess it's trying to understand or trying to get people to understand that your views are your views, right, will they have to worry about certain parties that potentially have wrote you in that you might share those same exact views, if that makes sense. Not that is wrong, right, but just that you understand. So I'm getting it from both sides. I'm sure on the left. On the right, Democrats Republicans are saying I'm not going to vote for you because you're a Republican nominee, and I get Republicans saying I'm not going to vote for you because you're still a registered Democrat. And I'm just asking people to open up their minds again. I'm Pat Dugan. I am the guy who did the eviction diversion program. I'm the guy who's a paratrooper. I'm the guy who gets off the step like his mom did. I'm the guy who did the eviction diversion I'm the guy who did Veterans Court. I'm the guy who did COVID Court. I went into the jails to take care of the people who are stuck in jail with just a mask, to make sure we had their hearings so they weren't sitting in jail lingering while we were trying to wait for COVID to go away. I wanted to have them to have their cases so they're either released or the case moves forward. But I'm also that guy that says, you know, I sat in a murder room for you know, I was on seventeen years. I sat in there probably fifty percent of the time, and I saw murders all the time. And I just see young people all the time getting killed in our city, and I want to try to help get in there so that we don't have so many murders. But unfortunately, we still have to hold those people accountable who are doing it. And I believe I can help all that. I'm the man I am, and I don't have a label, but I know who I am. And that's what I'm asking people to just, you know, put your differences down, to really take a look at what's best for our city. Who can be a good partner for Commissioner Bethel and Mayor Parker, who could be that third person to really work together to help to be safer so kids can go to the playground, so you can walk to the corner store and do't being afraid. That's that's all, I want you to really open up your eyes, open up your minds, please, folks. So, since you've mentioned those entities, it's let's say you've been elected, it's day one. What does this you know? What does this look like? You know, your first one hundred days? Because you mentioned you know Mayor Parker and you mentioned the police commissioner. How will you work with them? How will you work with the community as far as the diversion programs, in those community programs, the outreach, working with victims? How what does that look like? Yeah? Because you you are you sound like you are this great person, right. But sound like a great person. Right. But I mean, I'm just gonna say this. I had someone say me once it's not who you know, who knows you? So if people don't know you, how do they know to vote for you? Like? How do we get everyone to know who you are? Right? That's usually the biggest. Thing, Like you're written in and usually, like Charles was saying, people will go with Democrat just to their Democrat. And a lot of times people just go with the names that they know. That's right, That's right. So how do we get everybody to know your name? Well? We weekly so there you go off. So one of the audience, yeah, so with their head they have a clear picture. So I haven't been a judge for seventeen years and pretty much the vast majority of those days, or at least one hundred people in my courtroom every day. So I know a lot of people. Every time I go out to a civic meeting, somebody stands up and says, you know, I was a defendant in front of you, judge, or my kid was in front of you, and you know what, we didn't get maybe what we wanted that day, but you were fair. And I had so many people tell me that every time I go out to a meeting. But so Commissioner Bethel and Mayor Parker, they'll have a person who's going to be the third partner with them. I love what the commissioner coming from the school police, the programs he tried to do with the schools. He's trying to bring that into the police. He wants to train as police officers to handle crisis a lot better, to give them some training and how to deal with people in the throes of addiction, a mental health crisis. That's part of the stuff that I want to be involved with as well. Mayor Parker came on board saying, listen, we got to really start getting a handle on his crime. And I think they've been doing a pretty good job, and I think they need that third partner, and I think that's me who's willing to work with them. Mayor Parker started the Director of Public Safety this office and Adam Gear is in charge of it, and right now the current disc attorney is not working with that office. He said it out loud at a forum. I will work with him because there's a lot of things we could do to work together. On day one, what I will do is I will start hiring local attorneys from Penn Temple, Widner, Trexel, Rutgers, Cam Then, you know, bring the local law students back Villanova, because the current disc attorney was hiring all these people from Stanford and Harvard. And that's great. Let's bring the big, best and brightest. Mind's problem is when they came here, they studied the law of California. So they came here, they didn't pass the bar right away, and sixty eight out of seventy eight in one class did not stay. So they're coming there's high turnover. They don't know that Broad Street is not called fourteenth Street. They don't know that Front Street is not called First Street, and I had to correct some of them in court. Now, outsiders come on in, but I want people from here because they're going to stay here. So I'm going to hire locally. But one of the other big things that I'm going to do is because eight years ago, on day one, what we had prosecutors who were geographically located. So you had a senior assistant District attorney in the northwest, one in the southwest, west, one in central, one in the east, one of northeast, et cetera. And they were assigned up there to communicate with the community, with the ped acts, with the wards, with the civic associations, with the churches. So if there was a shooting in a corner store, that DA would communicate with the locals to let them know what's the status of that case. So you, as a community member or a block captain could call up this specific DA and say, Hey, Mary, what's going on with the shooting that happened at fifty second in Delancey And the communication was direct. They were all pulled back into the office, So we didn't no longer do we have the geographic, geographically assigned assistant district Attorneys. And I think that's part of the problem with the communication that's currently going on with the DA where victims are not being called, neighbors are not being told that shooting at the playground is this coming Tuesday? And geez, how good would it look if the community came in so the judge the jury could see, Wow, this community is concerned about what happened in her neighborhood. That's a very important factor in court hearing. So just simple things like that can go a long way. And I will also bring back I called boot camp training for the DA's. There was a lot of allegations and I sault firsthand in court over the last seven years of a completely different style of training in a DA's office. There were a couple seminars about touchy feely things, but nothing to do about the nuts and bolts in court. Nothing to do about how to communicate with the police officers and make sure they show up. Nothing to do about how do you call missus Jones whose son was murdered and now we want her to come to court so she can represent her son. That stuff ceased and all that stuff is just common sense. I want to bring back to boot camp to teach the new DA's how to put on a direct examination, how to cross examine a witness, how to put in evidence, how to communicate, how to address the court instead of telling them. And this is what they told me. The attorneys told me that they were recruited to come to Philadelphia and be a public defender with a budget. Well, I want you to come and be a prosecutor who can walk and chew gum. When you see somebody that we need to put in a diversion program, you need to recommend that and let's do it. But when you see a person who's a danger to our community, you know, I mean, we've had thirty two hundred murders in the city of Philadelphia in the last eight years. Over ten thousand people have been wounded. Now, I did say I went to Afghanistan, right, that was a twenty year war. We had two four hundred fifty nine military personnel killed in Afghanistan in twenty years. Twenty four hundred thirty nine in less than eight years. We've had over thirty two hundred people murdered in the city of Philadelphia. That is just something we should not tolerate. Philadelphia is like a war zone. And I'm glad the numbers are started to go down. They need to keep going down. But you know, we're talking about the whole picture here, the whole picture here, folks. We need to stop the insanity going out and frankly, the vast majority of the victims out there are young people of color. And you know, I mean when Strawberry Mansion and North Central and Tioga, when those neighborhoods are four hundred percent more dangerous than the average neighborhood in the United States of America, or three hundred percent or two hundred and eighty or Frankfurt's two hundred and six percent more dangerous than the average neighborhood in the United States of America, I don't care what the numbers are coming down. That is not acceptable that our neighborhoods are three or four hundred percent more dangerous than the average neighborhood in America. And that's something I want our das to focus on that. But I also want to help people that need help. I kind of answer the question not to change the subject, but. This is how much of you wanting to help and change things. After nine to eleven, I mean you are a honorable, decorated veteran. Yeah, but after nine to eleven you re enlisted into the army too. I want to know what, of course, I mean we all probably felt like we could have wanted to do something right, but you actually did. What was your driving force and what was your goal? Like what did you feel like you could do or what areas did you want to help in or feel like single handedly you could do something? And I just want to know, like just like the mindset of I don't want to do something because this is how much this man wants. To do something. Yeah, so my mother was my driving force. Another round close, he's. Getting off the step, and obviously we saw the towers go down. You know what a moment for all of us that were you know, alive and we witnessed that live on TV or if you were closer to it and you saw the dust and you were in New York, how that really impacted us all. So at the time, I'm a lawyer, i haven't been in the Army in fourteen years, and I'm probably weighing over two hundred and fifty pounds. Well, the Army ain't taking you in. Is a two hundred and fifty pounds so and. You were forty three. I was forty three years old, and so I went to a recruiter and they laughed at me because I was prior service, and they said, no, we can't get you in. And they said, first thing you had do is god lose some weight. So that was one of the things that I started to do. I wanted to be part of it because in the eighties I was this grunt. I was an eleven Brible, which is in the infantry. I was a paratrooper and reaccount platoon. I was on the DMZ in South Korea. I was stationed in Panama for two years. I was in the eighty second Airborne. So I was one of those bad guys, right I was a paratrooper. Well, now I'm a lawyer, fat out of shape, so I knew I could help though, because all those young people that were being called upon, I knew my experience could help them. I was able to lose some weight talk the doctors into letting this forty three year old man get in, and I went to a civil affairs unit where they bring lawyers, doctors teachers, engineers, and the deal is you're going to go win hearts and minds. So I wanted to go over to Iraq to be that person in uniform who's dealing with the government, who's dealing with the schools, who's dealing with the hospitals. And that's what I did. We were digging wells, we were trying to help give more materials for education. I let a, I let a a send me toys, soccer balls, prenatal vitamins, pencils. I sent that home and I got into dated with thousands of packages that I was giving out to local Iraqis. I started a woman's Empowerment Zone not women's empowerment group, where we helped women start their own businesses at home in Iraq, which is unheard of. I was able to do that, and I was able to do this with some great young people eighteen nineteen, twenty twenty three, twenty five, and I was that sage old man and I was that pop and you know, it was good to beat their big brother and help got him through some really some very rewarding times, some horrific times because it was still a war going on over there. But I'm very proud of my service, and yes, I'd do it all over again. Mom took us a way to jump off the. Step, yes, and now off the bench of bench. Into the streets of Philadelphia for sure. And and I did have another question. I just wanted to know, you know, with all of the work, you know, because we did say that now you're you know, it's day one, first hundred days and all of the things that you're planning to do, are there any concerns with some of the executive orders that are being passed? Are there any concerns with those, you know, getting in the way of any of the plans that you have to do that you're you know, that you want to do for the community or or working with people. Now we have you know, the issues with immigration, and we have ice and all these things. Are there any concerns? You know? I think that if I was looking for clicks and donations from AFAR, yeah we could. I could talk about all these national issues, but that's not what I'm trying to do. This election is me versus the current district attorney. And in reference to immigration, I'm going to treat people who might have immigration issues the same as people who reside and who are citizens who live in Philadelphia. If you're going to break the law, we have to sit down and look at follow the evidence. And if you have bad papers and the law says that that violent crime gets you deported, then that's what has to happen. But I'm not going to seek out You don't need to be seeking out somebody because they look like something. They think you have bad papers and all that. But I will not do something that I know happened because I saw it while I was on the bench. Here's a guy who goes in to rob a bank, right, puts on a note, I'm want to rob the bank, Give me all the money or I'm going to kill you, hands it to the teller, gets arrested. Now that person is not here with legal documents. I'm not going to be the DA who downgrades that charge down to a possession of an instrument of crime. For the pen It's still a bank robbery. You still scared the heck out of that woman who is the teller. It needs to be charged as a bank robbery. There was also a case that I know about where a man has had sixty eight or seventy eight bundles of heroin and he was dealing it on the street. Again, he had illegal papers. The current district attorney downgraded it to possession of marijuana. Now I'm sorry, but he's not floored and he's not changing water into wine. So how the heck are you changing a bundles of heroin down in the possession of marijuana. I am not going to do that because you know, we want to be dignified about folks who have bad papers who are here under some issues with him migration. So I'm going to handle it as what did this person allegedly do and then deal with it just like I'm going to do it for the guy from West Philly or from Port Richmond. What are the facts? What's going on with you? So I think we got to be above the board, across the board for everybody. That's fair. That's fair when we think of since you, since you brought up the current DA, what separates you from the current DA? Like what would be you know, your your picture, your selling point versus the current DA. So when Larry became the district Attorney, I'm going to tell you I was excited because I was in there doing all these diversion programs and I actually said, to man, we could do this on steroids. We could help so many more people. I got to give a shout out to Seth William Seth had all kinds of issues and all that, but he embraced the version programs, and I thought, the guy who says I'm the most progressive in the country is going to really embrace our our diversion programs. It was the opposite. He actually's obstructed them, and our numbers have gone way down. Some of the programs are have shut down, some are probably going to be shut down. And there's only one that he really started. It's called the Emerging Adult Program. And every judge in the building has asked him for an explanation of it and we haven't. None of us have gotten it yet. It's in shambles. There's nothing going on. So most diversion programs are a partnership between the public Defender's office, the private bar, the prosecutors, the courts, and it works. The community is involved. But if you're not all on the same page, they're not going to work. I mean, we had some great programs. We had one for Dolan's Court, which were for prostitutes, and it's not like pretty women. The women who are out there on the streets right now selling their bodies for five or ten dollars. They're being sex trafficked, they're abused, they're addicted to drugs, and they're selling themselves for five or ten dollars. It's horrible, and Doin's Court would actually have a great success when they were able to come in and be in our courtroom. We could save their lives. In one year, we had eighteen women who were arrested for prostitution while while they were in the program, gave birth to drug free babies, which is unheard of because most of them wind up in Temple. These babies come out addicted to cocaine or heroine and it's terrible. In fact, my wife and I fostered one of those kids a few years back, and it's just it's an amazing journey for those babies and it's something they shouldn't have to go through. But so we were able to help these ladies. What's happening now is they're not getting arrested, and I understand that because they're victims. The problem is there's nothing else set up to help them. Because the court we could force them to get help in the beginning, and then they embrace it and we have all kinds of testimony from how well it helped their lives and we were able to help people. And those are programs that where are these people getting helped now? And they're just withering to die on Lancaster Avenue, Tarzan Avenue, Kensington, they're winding them in bodybags. And I just think there's so many more programs that we could be helping these folks who are just they're victims of the whole damn system, but we could help them a lot. Yeah, I know, I know the current DA has a few programs that assist our returning citizens and those who are pushing against you know, gun violence, and so there are some programs out there, right, So do you believe that they have merit? So, as I was saying before I go into sci Phoenix, and I talked to convict murderers. So yes, those who get out of jail, who walk that tough life, who were violent human beings at some point in their life, if they come out and they want to be mentors to help turn people's lives around. They've shown us that through what they did, whether it was in prison or when they get out. All they want to do is keep those young people from going to jail. Oh my god. We have to embrace them because having a guy who's a professor who's going to say, I don't know, you shouldn't do that, that doesn't work. The guy who's who hung on the same corner thirty years ago or twenty years ago, who went to the same high school, who walked in the same neighborhood, who can now tell me, don't do the same stuff that I did, because it's going to ruin your life. You know, I got three kids that I didn't see. They're now forty years old. Now I see them. I didn't see them through their teens. I wasn't around to be their father them. Those kind of folks helping him race our communities to help us turn it around. I think that's fantastic. And that's one of the things. As a DiscT attorney you have access to, you know, tens of millions of dollars for all these little micro grants, and you know what, Yes, they need to be placed. Well, we need to help people in the community. We need to make sure how these what can we do with these kids when their baby so that you know, they're they're they're getting schooling early. The what is nursery school? They show if you go to nursery school, how much that's going to help you later in life. After school programs, lunch programs, these alternatives that they have in the schools for when there's a disturbance. How can we handle it instead of taking them out in cuss What can we do? No? I love it. And then these kids who are highly at risk, how we can bring those folks almost like a scared straight Having that forty year old guy who just got out of jail coming and said, man, I was you don't be like me? It goes a long way. Yeah, because I think even though you know, over the past. A few years the numbers have come down when it comes to the homicide. Rates, we still have the. Increase in the school age victims of being gunshot victims. You know, those are increasing as well, So that's also becoming a concern. So just having those programs for you know, some of the students and the kids, yeah, you know, I think it will be important. Yeah, yeah, those kids need alternatives. Yeah. The streets is such the streets are such a hard pull on them and We've had some folks over the last you know, eight ten years who were actually grabbing these kids at thirteen fourteen years old, putting a gun in her hand and ask them to go shoot somebody. You know, here's a couple hundred bucks, go shoot somebody. And you know, I mean, men's brains aren't developed to science says twenty three. I say it's much older than that. But I mean young teenagers, their brains aren't ready to handle that, ye, and they're going to do it for a couple hundred bucks. And it's a shame that, you know, they've been led down that path and we've lost so many young people to this violence, you know. I mean some of the criminologists say part of it is because these young men have done a pretty good job of killing each other too. So it does have and flow in terms of who's available to be a victim. Yeah, I have to give you. I have to acknowledge your work because outside of the service you have been doing, I have heard of many who have been in your courtroom that you have done fairly, you know, and they and they say it, you know, so that deserves the flowers. And I believe that you would run not only a campaign, but if or when you win that you would do what's necessary to continue to protect consert of community. So at this point, I believe, you know, it's about which side do you like like the best right, And I think that it's one of those things. If you if you know the information, if you if you become informed, then you can make informed decisions. Right. Oftentimes most people don't get the information that's necessary to make those informed decisions. Right. That said, if there was information you believe that people should know about you that they don't know, right, what would you tell them or what information would you give to say this is truly who I am? You know it? Ask people that have been around me. And again, as you said, people have come into my courtroom. One of the best things that I felt after I resigned from the bench the calls that I got from people saying, I hope you win. And these are people who've been in front of me, whether they were attorneys, clerks in my room, and that said, I just appreciated how you were as a judge, and I hope you can win being a DA because I know that's how you're going to be again. If you can win. This just that reputation. People know it, and I even had people who told me this. I see people out on the campaign trail who again, I found their son guilty or they were guilty, and they come up to me and say, but I really appreciated how you ran in the courtroom. You always treated everybody fairly and you listen to them, and you know, whether you know what you look like didn't matter to me. It was about what was the evidence there. So again, I am Pat Dugan from Philadelphia, and I'm real, I really am. I'm not trying to hide anything from you. I'm not out there getting coached what to say. I'm not looking at poles. I'm just being as real as I possibly can. This is me, and you know, my joy are my grandkids. And it would be so much easier for me to just go off and retirement hang out with my grandkids. You know, I had the greatest job in the world. As other than being like a bullbend coach for the Phillies or you know, the long snapper for the Eagles, I was a municipal court judge in the city of Philadelphia. I love what I was doing, and all I had to do was coast into retirement, chilling out all that good stuff. And I'm taking this mission on because I believe in getting up and helping people. And that's why I decided to do this, because that's who I am as a man, and that's sincere. It's just who I am, and I truly want to help Philadelphia for all Philadelphia. So again, I'm not getting consultants telling me say this, say that, No, I'm real fantastic. If and when you win, you have to promise that you come back to the show and talk about that, talk about the journey, talk about you know how you're feeling now, do you right before you answer that or acknowledge that you'll come back. I'm sure you'll come back. But I would like to know what your life would be like if you find out that you have one that day one? You know, what what would that be like? In you know, would you sit on like you're sitting here saying all the things that you have done. Would you change your mind or would you pivot? Will you now that you are to a degree affiliated with a different party, do you now take some of their ideals or or or you know, some of their interests in you with what you're doing. In ruling. You know, so, yes, I will be back. Get that. Let's pause. I did to get rid of closely, no. Doubt, absolutely. And what I can tell you is that if I had won in May, the Democrats would have no say, And now I run my office, and if I win as the Republican nominee, the Republicans will have no say. Now I run my office, it's going to be I'm going to bring in good people, surround myself with good people. I never say that I'm the I never think I'm the smartest person in the room. It's going to be I'm bringing in good people to be around me. I don't want yes people coming to work for me. I need people to come in give me their best thoughts, their best ideas. I'm gonna make the decisions. But now I'm gonna surround myself with good people. But again, no political party is going to tell me what to do. And in any office kind of should be like that. Darn it. In the disc Attorney's office, there's no room for politics in there. In my opinion, there really isn't. There really isn't fantastic. I mean, my my final final thought was, just like, do you have any concerns about like, you know, once you win, your your mental health, Like, how do you take care of your mental health? Yes, we had we had Mayor Charell when she was just what was it, Demo Democrat Democratic candidate? It was just the elect at that point. And we asked her like, you know, how will you you know, take care of your mental health? What are you going to do? And she. Sounded like she yeah, how about you? How do you plan to take care of your mental health? So, as a judge for seventeen years and again, somebody has been in combat zones and all you know, it's something you got to learn how to get rid of to stress. I will never stop going to see my grandkids play a game. I probably won't be able to go as often as I do, but you got to continue to family as first. I'm never going to lose that. I think that keeps yourself grounded and well balanced. My wife has been a fantastic supporter of mine. But I will definitely be talking to people I know. So as a judge, I had to have police protection at times. I had death threats. Even in a campaign in the springtime, I had some some pretty pretty bad threats against me as well. It's part of being in the public world today in this crazy day and age. So it's something that you just have to make sure that you're surrounding yourself with good people. And I'm not going to tell you that I'm not afraid to sit down and talk to a professional. There have been times in my career that I did sit down because of some of the things that were coming at me. And you know, you should talk to somebody who that's their job. So I have talked to a therapist or two just trying to deal with things that are going on. So I do know I'm man enough to admit that, Yeah, sometimes it's good to sit down and talk to somebody about it. So I just plan on surrounding myself with good people, getting good advice and just you know, moving forward. Yeah, my life's going to change after I win this, but that's what I'm trying to do for the city. I'm going to surround myself with some really good people from the city of Philed if we want to take this omigo and do it together and I come back here for third. You got that, look, So I got one more question to ask you. I'm gonna throw you a little curve ball, because you know, this is one of those questions that everybody has a challenge with. If I was to ask you the one thing that no one knows knows about you, about the honorable Patrick Dugan, what would that be? Got dig d. So, as a paratrooper jumping out airplanes from thousands of feet, I'm afraid of heights? What? But where are my scrap what? I'm afraid of height? I'm afraid. So I gotta tell you. When you're up in an airplane and you're fifteen hundred feet up, there's no perception of the height, so it's easy to walk out of that airplane into the air. But when you're up on the ladder twenty four feet up, oh my goodness, I'm not very good at that. So wow, And I guess I can elaborate a little bit more. We've got to go up on the ladder. My beautiful wife, generally speaking, will do it. So I'm also mad enough. I'm mad enough to admit that that, you know, I just don't do well ladders. Fantastic. Is there anything that stands out a memory during your tenure that stands out that you are truly proud of? I mean you have, I mean literally you have so many moments. But is it something that stands out that you were really proud of in terms of any of you either ruling or success of your programs. So there's a gentleman from West Philly. That was shout out to Westfield. Yeah, we from Westfield Center. Actually he went over Broke, shout out Overbrooking from over Brook. That's album. You would another one, say something else. I really didn't do my home. I'm not doing so anyway. My buddy, and I'll just say his first name, Donald. We had a really hard time when he was in my courtroom, back and forth with his addiction and you know, crimes he was committing, and we didn't give up on him, and he finally got it and he's over eight years sober now. His first year sobriety happened to be close to my wedding anniversary. I'm taking my wife out to dinner. I get a call, he says, can you come to my meeting? Because that's what you do on your first year anniversary, you bring people that were part of it. So my wife and I went out to fifty fourth and I forget what the cross street was to see him on Now. My wife didn't know where she was going on the way to dinner, so we stopped into the meeting to see Donald and for him to talk about, you know, his year's struggle. And he still we're good friends. Now. He became a mentor in my courtroom for other veterans, and even since I retired from the bench, I still see him and he recently called me out to tell me it's eight years now. So he's just somebody that amazing and he's now back with he's now talking with his daughter's daughters back in his life. I was with him a couple of weeks ago. He's talking about his grand baby that he's saying. So it's just you can make a difference in a person life and it just ripples forever. So that that is one example that he's near and dear to my heart. You know, I hope to keep I'm proud of being able to do that for that man. Wow, But they have it, ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Patrick Dugan. I'm going to give you the floor to say because I did it far you know the current DA, but I'm gonna allow you the opportunity to talk to our audience to let them know why they should vote for you in this coming election. You had the last word. So I have a body of work. I've been doing this for a while. I really can walk in cheugh gum. At the same time, the diversion programs, the fiction diversion, me going into the prisons, me sitting in the murder room and holding people accountable. There are some bad people out there. We need to protect our neighborhoods. We need to make it safer for our kids in the rec centers to go be able to go play there and not get shot by somebody just going randomly shooting down the street. People need second chances. I have no problem doing it. I've done it. It's my body of work, so walking chew gum. At the same time, people are going to be doing violent crimes. They need to pay for it. People need a second chance. We can do it. We can do it together. I want your input, but I also want your vote on November fourth. I need to make sure you get everybody to come out. I have a website, Judge Dougan for DA dot com, social media Doogan for DA. I'm on TikTok and all those Instagrams, MySpace, you name it, I'm on them all. So so just you know, do your civic duty. Folks, get out and vote, and you should always get out and vote. And again, I'm Pat Doogan, I'm from Philadelphia. I'm real, fantastic, fantastic. But there you have, ladies and gentlemen. We talked weeklies after the Talking the wpp P Philadelphia one on six point five film. We talked weeks after the Talk with your boy Charles Gregor and Beautiful and the Beautiful and the Gentleman. This is we talk weekly And just one thing that I say, uh to our guest is once you come to the show, you're always your friend to the show, So you're always welcome to come back. But we will continue to lend a platform for people to give information to the community. And that's one of the most important positions that we talk weekly sits on. You know, there's always this discussion of we don't know, right. We hear people saying I shouldn't vote or why should I vote? You know, this gives you the opportunity to make those decisions. You can't make a decision without the information, right, So once you had information, now you're informed. Now you can make an informed decision whether whomver you believe through your research. But what we're doing right now is that the very le's giving you the cliff notes right and so I'm your boy, Charles Gregory. Continue to follow, continue to subscribe, continue to share, and if you're feeling, you know, you want to dig in that little pocket, make sure you donate that we talk weekly, cash that we talk weekly. We're everywhere. Make all the people who's listening on all of the platforms across the country, across the world. Actually, we really appreciate you. Thanks for tuning in and we're out here like last year, y'all. Please