Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Alex Jones Pays, and a Conversation With a Thought Warrior

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Van and Rachel react to Alex Jones being ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in Sandy Hook defamation damages (23:15). Plus, multimedia journalist and Thought Warrior Nicki Mayo joins to discuss the discourse coming out of the “All Lives Matter” conversation on the previous episode (34:03), Rachel does a peak ‘Legal Eagle’ breakdown (58:30), and a Mailbag centered on ‘literate culture’ (1:27:08).  Hosts: Van Lathan Jr. and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Nicki Mayo Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning is on. It is I, Van Lathen, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. We're back. We just did another, we just, we're back. We're back to piss y'all off some more.

Whoa! We have seen your comments. We have seen your Reddit post. We have seen your social media activity. I saw them. I saw them. I didn't see the Reddit. I didn't go to the Reddit.

I feel alive, man. You like this. But that's what, you know what, you know a reason why, though, is because of all, of, even of all the things that were saying in the interview, the person that handled the interview best was by far you. I didn't even catch the looks on your face. Like, I didn't even catch them. When we were doing the interview, I was too, I think I was too aghast to like, like, I didn't, like, I didn't even catch what you were going. Shout out to the Balaw Warriors that caught. Calica, Calica knows my face, but I cannot hide.

what I'm thinking. But shout out to the thought warriors that caught it. I didn't even realize I was making those faces. I told you I wasn't okay. I was literally coming fresh off a Bachelorette party. I couldn't handle that. I couldn't handle that. So obviously, the person

who I feel sorry for is Ashley Blaine Featherson Jenkins, who gave us a delightful interview. And who gave, like, who, I might make sure I'll post some clips from that interview, who gave us a delightful interview, a fun interview. I'm going to plug her podcast again. What's the name of her podcast on the own network again?

Donnie. From Triumph? From, oh, go ahead, Donnie. Trials to Triumph. Ashley Blame Featherson Jenkins. Ashley Blame Featherson Jenkins. Blaine Featherson Jenkins, trials to triumph on the goddamn own podcast network. Go. Because we did, we had a great interview with her. And look, obviously we've heard you guys talk about the Jack interview. Let's litigate this real quick. Rachel, what is some of the feedback that you're seeing and what do you think of the response? We have somebody on the amazing Nikki Mayo. We have her on. She's had a pretty lengthy career in journalism. She's going to join us a little bit later to tell us some of the problems she had with the interview. But Rachel, what's the response been like to you? It's split. And this is what I like. This is why I say I feel alive. I like Thought Warriors activated. I like that this,

not that I like the Jack's interview, but I like that people were on both sides. the fence. There are people who were like, never have him on again. Don't do this again. What's, what's going on? But then there were quite a few people who said, I understand why we have to have these types of conversations. I mean, everybody had the same opinion on Jack. There was no, there was nobody who's on the fence with that. And I don't think we're surprised by that. But it was interesting to hear people really, I mean, I was reading Reddits where people were like, I created a Reddit for the first time just so I had some, a book. to talk about this.

Jackals, new jackals. I'm not saying that we want to continue to have to frustrate our listeners, but it was everybody, I think everybody knows a Jack. Well, so that's kind of my issue with it. So I realize something in my relationship with Jack and my relationship with other people is that I meet people where they are, right? And I compartmentalize my life. So that's a gift.

I've known Jack for a long time, right? I've known Jack for like seven years. But like when I, when him and I talk, we're talking about basketball or fashion because he has a clothing line called Active Dreamers that you would go to and get like, you know, stuff to wear on vacation and stuff. So when I would talk to Jack, I'm talking about things that he is insanely educated in, like super duper, like super duper knowledgeable about it. And I see a lot of people that, like, you know, would say that he is dumb or say that

he is this or whatever. He's just not up on what it is that we're talking about for some reason he thinks he is. But if you're talking about, I mentioned this in the interview, if you're talking about basketball with him, if you're talking about fashion with him, if you're talking about bringing a line to scale with him, he has had his own workplace out there downtown, all different types of products. He knows that entire world. So I think for me, when people go, well, then look around and tell me who your friends are, like, there's no IQ test for me to love you. There's no like, if I find out if me and you form a bond around something and I find out

you have some bad ideas, well, the first thing I'm going to do is talk to you about those bad ideas. I've done that with almost everybody in my life. People in my life have done that with me. I'll talk to my father, God rest his soul, about his. bad and outdated ideas. I'll talk to my homeboys, the great Ian Vaughn and all these other people that love. We've talked to each other about what our responsibilities are as men to grow up and be productive, non-shitty members of society.

Like in my crew, I've had to have conversations with them about their homophobia. You know, like now and even back then because my sister came out such an early age, it was something that we were kind of forced to talk about. So I don't really understand what people think I'm supposed to do. Like the gamut of people that I know, there's definitely some people in there that would offend them. We had

glasses on. Me and Glasses talk mostly about L.A. game politics and boxing. I'm not ashamed of him. He's a guy who's trying to do his best who has some really bad ideas. To me, I mean, I'm just

to be honest with you. And he knows I feel that way. feels like I have some bad ideas. Glass just asked me if I was a cuck. You tell y'all this. You said, you think you're a, you think you're a, yeah,

you think you're a cuck. You might be, are you a cuck? And I'm like, nigga, why are you talking to be like this? So what I'm saying is that like, I don't know where,

and I'm not trying to, everybody's entitled to their opinion and I take the criticism and we talked about the Jack interview, but like where I'm from, like there are people, I don't know what we're supposed to do. Like,

drug dealers. criminals, addicts. These people are in close proximity to me in Baton Rouge. And the only thing we can do is have conversations about how we can do better. Like hiding them or acting like I don't love them or acting like they're not my friends or acting like or because I disagree. Now, if you're a Trump supporter, I can't be your friend. And I don't know any of those. But as far as people who think they know how to handle women and it's not right.

I got to be like, nah, bro, like that's not it. And we got to keep having the conversation. So I don't, if y'all don't fuck with me because of that, then y'all don't fuck with me. And I'm good with that. No. I really am. I don't think people are taking it to that extreme. No, no, no, no.

But no, no, I understand people that go, hey, like, whatever, whatever, you know, look at all of Vance friends. We've had many of my friends on here that you got liked a lot of people. Actually, Blaine Featherson Jenkins is my friend. Yes. We like, we were like, you know what I mean? So I don't, it's like, I don't know though. I was invigorated by it.

I love pissing off ready. They weren't that pissed off, though. I mean, even if they were like, never have him come on, nobody was that upset. You know what I mean? They were just, of course, they were like, these are Vans friends. But, you know, Vance friends bring interesting conversation to the podcast and y'all know it. They get y'all activated. Because you know why?

Because we some niggas. That's why y'all. There is a, I'm going to be real with you. And I'm serious about this. There is a twinge of elitism that borders on white supremacy, in my opinion, when you can no longer relate to certain people in your community. I'm being completely serious about this. I would 100% agree with that. Like you guys, like, I'm not, you guys think there's certain people.

You guys think you're better than these people. You don't think they're worth talking to anymore. You don't think it's worth even correcting them anymore. Do you know how, do you know how little you have to think of somebody's humanity when it's not worth setting them straight at this point? And that's how I feel about like a lot of areas of the extreme political right. I don't feel like it's worth setting them straight. The reason why we haven't had Richard Spencer on this podcast, the reason why we hadn't had,

I don't know, who else, like, he of those MAGA peeps. Oh. Like, some of those people, it's not worth setting them straight. But the people that you share your community with that have bad ideas that you hope to build a better community with, even if you can't,

the people right around a corner from you, it's worth giving them a little tighten up sometimes. And it's worth doing it publicly. It's worth it to me. But also, How boring is it to only talk to people who have the exact same ideas and thoughts that you do? You know, I think you said it. Yeah, you said it on the last podcast where you talked about being challenged by the bad ideas or being challenged by other, you know what?

And people think a completely different way because I think it forces you to reason why that's not right. Let me tell you this. What? I'm done. No, you're not. I had a lot of, look, look. Look, I had a lot of good people coming up, man. There's a lot of people who I know.

Some people I know might be playing a Super Bowl in the future. There's a lot of people I know, but y'all not get none of them. No, no more vast friends. Y'all not getting nobody. You know who I was texting with earlier today? Barack Obama. Not coming on the podcast. I've never texted Barack Obama.

It's a joke. But I'm joking, but it is funny. my super educated friends are pissed off though like my like the people is like there are people that are like van like seriously like why haven't you had us on the podcast yet and I'm sorry

I'm sorry oh we have a jack but we don't have them like man like seriously I'm up here like we've raised two million dollars like why haven't you have something I'm sorry you know because those people don't typically reach out as much as the people who want to get their shit off. So I do want to shout out one guy right now, Isaac Hayes III.

Isaac Hayes hasn't been on our podcast yet, but Isaac hit me up. And I want to shout out Isaac Hayes III. I want everybody to know about what's happening down there in Atlanta with Fanbase. All of you guys are on Instagram. You're complaining about Instagram. You're complaining about what goes on on Instagram. There is a social network called Fanbase that is, for you by a black man.

All of you guys that are so weird. Isaac Hayes III. His daddy made the theme from Shaft. It don't get no blacker. This nigga was born singing a Negro spiritual. Isaac Hayes III and fan base. Go sign up for fan base. Go sign up for fan base.

Invest into fan base. We're going to have Isaac on the show pretty soon so he can tell you all about that. Maybe we will. Maybe we won't. Maybe he's going to have to make friends with Rachel before we can have a because we can only have Rachel's friends on. Rachel, give us five friends you would like to have on the podcast now. Let me think about that.

No, I will not. But I need to, I need to. Can we get Stephen A. Smith? Can we get Stephen A Smith on here? Let's, let's get Stephen A Smith on. Let's get Stephen A. Let's see if we can pride Stephen A away from Fox News. Let's see if we can pride Stephen A away from Fox News.

I would love to have Stephen A on the podcast. You guys would love that because me and him are going to get along. Let's have Stephen A. Smith. That's what, that's, yes, we're going to make that happen. Go ahead. Rachel's Friends Fall. That's the name of, RFF. Oh, we got to have Rachel's Friends Fall.

We got to have a manual. Who? Oh, this is what I'm talking about. Rachel's Friends Fall. Jack put a moratorium on Vance Friends. It's like, we got to take a time out. Jack, man. Jack just, I love you, dog.

Man, we're going to get these books, bro. Book culture. We're going to get into some literate culture. Jack put a moratorium on Vance French. Cool. Rachel, Rachel's friends fall. You guys, that's the movement. Donnie, are you into RFF?

All into it. I'm already, like, writing down these names so I can. send them to Allison. Or you can make the text, Rachel. It's up to you. We'll do both. We'll do both. So can we have Matt James?

That doesn't count. Matt James is not one of your friends. We're friendly. Do you want to have a lot? You're friendly, sir. Let's think about that. Let's think of what. Nigna, you know I want to have Matt.

What kind of question is that? Put him down. I don't know if you were still interested. But Matt James. Matt James. Ellen Pompeo. You want Ellen Pompeo on? Yeah.

Can I tell you, I do because I want to ask Ellen Pompeo about something that happened and wanted to... Never mind. It's a story. It's nothing bad. Okay. It's nothing bad. Oh, I look. Hold on, hold on for a sake.

I love Ellen Papeo. I love Ellen Papeo. Ellen Papeo's great. Graves in the Admi for a long time. She's great. She came to one of our screenings for two-distance strangers. Oh. And it was like a little interesting...

Yeah, yeah. It's like she came to like one of our... virtual screenings, it was a little interesting moment during the screeny. And it was, it was funny. It wasn't, it was funny. We laughed. But Ellen Papeo was great. She was very supportive of the movie.

No, she doesn't know that people were laughing. But it's like, she's a very nice lady, very supportive lady. Where are you going? You're about to leave and go somewhere. Where are you headed? To New York for BravoCon. This is my other, like, so you've got your Comic-Con. I've got BravoCon.

do ringerverse, I do morally corrupt on ringer reality TV. Got BravoCon. I like morally corrupt. Every show that's on Bravo, having all the people that are, what would I call them? Almost call them characters. It's reality TV. All the people who are on these shows will be at BravoCon. There'll be panels.

They'll be games. They have like booths set up. So I'll be moderating a panel, which I'm excited about. And then I will be... Oh, that's very special. Yes, yes, because I'm a fan, too. And then I'll be doing something Andy Cohen does this with his radio show where you act out a scene while he sit and do a table read kind of,

of a famous Real Housewife scene. So I'm doing that with... I just realized this is I'm about to say it. With friend of the podcast, and I'm using air quotes, one of the people sharing the stage will be Michael Rappaport. Michael Rappaport. Yeah, I knew it. I just haven't talked to him since his infamous time on this podcast.

So we'll see how that. People, people were mad about that interview. No, people loved you for that interview. Wrong. People were so, I got, I can go back through all the interviews that we've done. There are people, when I was still on the Reddit, lurking on the Reddit being a real obsessive, compulsive, twit. There were people that are like, they just shouldn't do interviews on how I

learning. They suck. You guys can't tell me. Fuck you guys. I love you guys. Love you so much. Reddit was growing. Reddit grew after Jack. I'm telling you. People were, yes, people were into it. I was like, let me go see what Reddit's saying. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to all Reddit. I have a, I have a Solace Jackals.

Somebody make a Solace Jackals Reddit. No, we don't need to take away from what we already have. It's building. No, man. No, man. Remember back in the day when you used to be so excited and you used to say, our thought warriors is the hottest, hottest Reddit page out, the hottest Reddit group out there.

You were so excited. I have to be real about something in all seriousness. I was unfair to the Reddit. I should have never gotten into the Reddit. I should have never pretend. Let me tell you why. I'm serious. The Reddit, I think I've said this before.

Reddit is this is their podcast. That's their spot to go and talk the shit. They're supposed to be doing what they're doing on the Reddit. They are. Seriously. Like, it's hard to read negative things about you, especially people coming at parts of your character where they don't really even know you besides that. But that's the game that we're in. Let's be

honest with you. We talk about stuff. What? What the hell just happened, Rachel? I forgot that somebody else was here and they just popped up. It just threw me off. I'm sorry. Yeah, okay. But the reality is The Reddit goes exactly the way it's supposed to go. It's supposed to be people in there sounding off about stuff that they like and stuff that they don't like.

And that's what we hope for the Reddit. So, you know, I call them Solace Jackals. But in reality, they're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. I have a question for you. I've always thought that they should do, they should have a black host for a show just like, watch what happens live. And they should have, they should call it watch what happens jive. like after dark like super duper late

just with nigger shit because they because here's the thing on bravo yeah the thing I like about Cohen is that he he can hit the precipice of nigger for some reason

like he can be sitting right there he can be sitting with the niggerous he can be sitting right there right with like I don't know I don't know fucking Kodak black Gladys Knight and whatever and he can still do his thing.

Like he feels comfortable. Yes. But it still's not as comfortable as it was if you were there. Watch what happens jive. No. It's super black. I would never. Love me doing something with Bravo.

Would not be doing. Watch what happens. Jive. What would you do with Bravo? I wouldn't do a show. People ask me all the time when I do real housewives. I'm too big of a fan. I don't want people to know my reality.

What I'm driving, who my friends are, what my house looks like. I don't like that. But I'd be down to host a show. Why not? Like what, what means to show? I'd host a reunion. That's what I would want to do.

I'd want to do what Andy Cohen does hosting a reunion show. I've watched these shows. Oh, that would work. You know what I mean? I'm in tune. I've done it before with MTV for a show. I love it.

I love it. Would you be down to do a show on the Zeus network? Because I got to be honest with you. As far as reality shows go? No. I don't know. Zeus got the best reality shows. Straight like that. Zuse got the best reality shows.

Y'all, y'all can say whatever y'all want to say. Zeus, Baddys South, Jocelyn's Cabaret. You do not subscribe to Zeus. Zeus got the best reality shows. You do not subscribe to Zeus. I think Zeus is extremely problematic. They exploit us in the worst way and are just making money off of us. Wait a minute.

How could you say that about it? Zeus, but be cool with Bravo. It's the same thing. What, what? Zeus is white people? Zeus is black. I don't want to see it. I don't, I just, I hate.

This makes no sense. No, it doesn't. So you think it's better if white people exploit black people, then if it is, if black people are not really exploiting. Oh, you mean like, like Real Housewives of Atlanta? Yeah. It's not the same as Zeus. Zeus is like,

Zeus is like, let me take exactly what it is that you're known for the worst thing and let me times it by 20 and give you a whole show surrounding it on Zoot and make money off of it.

Like they're just making... Zeus is too extreme for me. It's too extreme for me. I'm sure it is entertaining. It's just too extreme. Right? Because I don't say these same things about love and hip-hop.

I don't say these same things about black ink crew. But Zeus is just next level to me. But see, this is what I like about Zeus. Zeus knows why you're coming to the show. Zeus knows and Zeus just goes, we're going to dispense with the pleasantries. And we're just going to give you,

we're just going to pound your flesh with the craziest shit. I fucking like Zeus. I'm sorry. I like Zeus. I had a conversation with somebody who had just finished filming something on Zeus and they hear the way that she talked about.

it and how they did her, knowing what some of her weaknesses were, and the situation they put her in, she did not know she was walking into that. I was just like, I felt it's too much. It's too much. It probably is some shit like that going on over at Zeus. But I will say that I got a big jar of coconut oil right here. I'm staying hydrated. But I will say that that's kind of the MO for all of these places, if you ask me.

But I can't say anything about that because shout out to hip hop homicides coming out November 3rd. Mona Scott Young 50 cents. Bring her on. I love them. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Are we going to promote hip hop homicides? No, no, no, no, we're not.

We're not bringing Mona on. We're not bringing 50 on. We're not bringing Philip McHarris on. We're not bringing Philip Agnew on. We're not bringing none of my friends. We got to have Gary. We can't have Gary on now. Gary's my friend.

You guys don't. Don't get Gary Chambers. You know what? I'll talk to Gary on my Instagram live or I'll bring back the Red Pill. You guys can't have Gary Chambers anymore. You're doing Gary a disservice, okay? He's trying to get elected. I'm not.

Yeah. Me and Gary about to do all kinds of shit. Gary is the man, the future of my state. Donnie. Love Gary. Already working on it. Donnie. It doesn't miss the beat.

Okay. All right. Big deal of the day. Alex Jones, one billion dollars, Sandy Hook, on the other side of it. Bye-bye. that terms. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, guselcomab, taken by injection,

is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. Okay, so we talked about Alex Jones before. And, oh, I'm sorry.

Would you like to press play and just go ahead and listen to the sound? Wrong. That was my fault. I'm sorry, Rachel. Go ahead. No, it's okay. I'll start over. Okay.

Big deal of the day. Alex Jones. Alex Jones, we talked about him before on this podcast. He's been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion, $965 million to be exact, in damages to the family of eight Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, victims and to an FBI agent for falsely claiming that the December 14th, 2012 massacre in Newtown was staged. Interesting enough, Jones, we saw him testify.

We saw him eventually. Did he apologize or just admit he was wrong? I guess it's the same thing. He kind of did both. But that was only after it was obvious that his balls were getting. nailed to the wall. Right. He tried to be as defined as he possibly could. Right. He just clean, ran out of hubris, baby. Right. If you watched any of it, you saw him being very challenging while he was in the witness stand, very combative with the attorneys that were, were questioning

him during trial. And you thought for a second, maybe, you know, he ran out of gas. Maybe he had enough. He admitted that he was wrong, seemed to take some responsibility. for it. And now the jury has come back with the damages. And at the same time that they had come back with this $965 million in damages to these families and to this FBI agent, he was simultaneously hosting from his show Info Wars, which is the show that got him in the very trouble that he's in now. So he was watching the verdict being in regards to the damages being read, live and commentating on it. Donnie, can you give us that audio, please? Ain't going to be happening. Ain't no money.

Our verdict as to damages in this case, we award damages to each plaintiff and against Alex Jones and three. I killed the kids, folks. I think. Number one, compensatory damages, instructions. Fill in both numbers. We've plaintiff. Now, remember, I'm in bankruptcy.

We got two years of appeals. The money you donate does not go to these people. It goes to fight this fraud. and it goes to stabilize the company. They want to shut down. That's why the ambulance chasers did this, why they used these families. So saveinfowars.com.

We're fighting Goliath. We'll win because of you. Save info wars.com. InfoWorStore.com. Double Patriot points, 10% off of 1776 right now at InfoWore store. But you see, you want somebody to fight for you? I'm doing it and you see what they do. So you want to fight?

That's fine. It's your decision. But that's where we are. That's the whacked-out system. some of the lab. Can I ask you something? Yes, you can. Because it's a part of this that I understand to a great deal. I understand the social ramifications of misinformation like this, disinformation like this, lies like this being penalized to the tune of a billion dollars. I think it sends a clear signal. Yep. And I think that's positive. I think this is positive. I think

what happened to Tasha K with Cardi B. It shows that sometimes people aren't going to, if you guys don't remember, there's a YouTube blogger named Tasha K. who had said some things about Cardi B that were demonstrably false. She sued. She had to pay. I don't have anything against Tasha K. What I'm saying is if you put something out there that's false,

people are going to come back and get their get back. And I think that's probably the best way to regulate some of the misinformation that you can see on some of these social media platforms. But what I don't know about is how this works, $965 million he has to pay or he's been ordered to pay. does this judgment effectively mean that Alex Jones will never be a rich man again? I mean, I can't say, but I would like to think so. I mean, I don't know if he can't appeal this.

I don't know if he will appeal this. I don't know. The jury decided this, but I don't know if this is a situation where the judge can change the amount of money. like sometimes that the jury will award one thing, but the judge will actually change it to a lesser amount. I don't know. But Alex Jones seems to think that that's the case because as he was commentating, as you just heard,

he was when he laughed it off when this amount was awarded and basically said, well, okay, I don't have it. And then he was then asking his followers to give him money so he can pay it because this wasn't about him. this was about all of us. If this can happen to me, it can happen to any of us. And so you have to send me money so I can pay this off to make a statement, to make, I mean, I guess that's what he was trying to say. Huh.

So I guess my question is, how does this work? Are you like, I know that, okay, for example, Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street guy. Okay. I'm going to go to Jordan Belford's Wikipedia right now. Okay. after everything that happened with Jordan Belford, how much money do you think he's worth? A couple million.

How much? Okay, so this is how much money Jordan Belford is worth. Let me look it up real quick. And I saw this on Wikipedia one time. I was very interested in. Jordan Belfort is worth like negative $200 million or something like that. Oh, okay. And the reason why he's worth,

why he's worth that is because he owes like a shit ton of restitution to the United States government that he can't that he can't pay. So what I'm wondering, and that is legally binding, you know what I mean? I know guys who had to pay restitution back in the day. You know who you are. I'm not going to bring up your personal business, but

he did. Shouldn't have been stealing from Dillard's. Not Dillard's. Dillard's, man. Oh, no, Parisian. It was Parisian. Dillets became Parisian. So should have been doing it. We all took part, but you got caught.

You took one for the team. An admission of guilt. Well, statute of limitations. Statute, is it, I used to always think it was statue of limitations. I know. A lot of people, a lot of people do. But I wasn't stealing. This person worked at Parisian, and he was,

no, this person worked at Parisian that he was giving us clothes on a discount. I think we all had a friend that did that for us. And it was so crazy. And then it got caught, but then had to pay restitution, restitution, restitution. So is this the same type of thing where he's compelled to pay this money before he can make bread anywhere else? Like, how does that work? I don't know how to work. I don't know specifically, but whatever amount is the final amount, whether it's $9.65 or less,

I don't think that every dollar he makes is going to be taken, but I don't think that he can ever be a rich man, which is why he reacted that way. in that clip. I don't think, I mean, unless he comes up on a bill, a billion.

If you are the, so Jordan Billford's net worth is seen to be negative $100 million. You got to make a living. You got to be able to survive, but I don't know if there's an allowance that's set,

you know, like you're given a certain amount, like how much money do you need to survive? I have no, I have no idea how that works. So if you claim banked remsy, if you, if you claim,

bankruptcy, can you avoid all of that stuff? Can you not pay it? How does it work? Well, no. I mean, according to what we have here, an economist said that his companies were $270 million. So, I mean, if he does go bankrupt and they start liquidating everything, I think that that would take an amount away from that, but he's still going to be on the hook for whatever the final amount is.

But I would imagine that he has some sort of allowance that allows him to live. and then every other dollar goes towards that. So when I think about this, I think about the difference between winning and stopping losing. And those are two different things. Winning is a triumph. It's a victory.

It's elation, right? The Sandy Hook families didn't win. They finally stopped losing. Very true. And I think it's important to remember that as we remember Sandy Hook and as we sort of put into context who Alex Jones is and what exactly this was. What really should happen is Alex Jones should be thrown in jail, had his legs pulled apart and have someone kick him into nuts for the next 15 years. to take the to take the pain of families that lost their children

you know and engineer lies and fabricate things in order to build a hundred million dollar fortune is just the worst parts of America the worst parts of humanity and Alice Jones has proven himself

whatever kooky believes that you will want to you know to be one of the worst human beings that's on the fence of the plane. Absolutely. And he's done that not because he has bad ideas, but because he hurt people. So, you know, I know that they won, but hopefully they can have a little bit of a little respect from just the

A little closure. Immeasurable loss. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That they've had. Okay.

We have an interview coming up. We told you we give it to you. Interviewers with journalist Nikki Mayo who had a big problem. With you. Damn. Yeah, with me. No, no.

With our interview. With our podcast. We couldn't interview all of you guys had a problem with the podcast. We couldn't interview all of you guys had a problem with the podcast, but we thought we'd bring somebody on that had an issue with it. And we're going to give that to you up next. Bye-bye. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business.

Fast, Reliable Internet means everything for your business. and even this podcast. That's why I trust Spectrum business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more.

Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and make it a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer. unless you hit the beach or go camping, then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors.

So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Hi, learning audience. We have a special guest in the building right now, Nikki Mayo. who is a multimedia journalist for nicki mayo news.com, the Crisis Magazine, Black Women Unmuted, and TV1, formerly of the Associated Press,

Philadelphia Tribune and BET amongst others. Wow. Donnie has in here former question mark thought warrior. I'm not. I still love y'all. That's what Donnie has. Everybody's friend, Donnie, is casting. I had a question mark in there.

I wasn't sure. You weren't sure. I'm still a thought warrior. I'm still looking for, you know, Mountain Lion and random scenarios. So I'm still here with you guys. Nikki and I had a back and forth on Twitter. I thought it was a very,

I thought it was a very productive, nourishing back and forth. And the reason why I invited her to be on the show right now, thank you for joining this, by the way, Nikki, is because I think that some of her, some of her concerns probably echo a lot of what the audience

was feeling after last week's show, particularly a Jack McClinton interview. So Nikki, thank you for coming on the show. Do you want to kind of just start with what your criticisms of the interview were or what it was that you said or how it is that you're feeling? And then we can kind of talk this out.

Sure. So I've been an advocacy for images of black people in media since 99. Not making it up. can Google it and find photos of me protesting stuff. That said, I love the emergence of podcasts, good, bad and indifferent lately. And I get nervous when I see a show that I love go off the rails or look like it's about to jump the shark.

And that's what I saw. Like the podcast was good. Like you were sitting there. If you even listened to like that first part, that was fine. That was solid. That was normal higher learning. Then we went to Jack and we're going to ask him about something that he's not intellectually capable of talking about.

He doesn't have the tools for it. And I'm wondering like, why did you even book him? What was the purpose of this conversation? I didn't find it to be fruitful. It was a waste of time along the lines of that Rush Limbaugh and the Breakfast Club interview. It just wasn't doing what, in my mind, I'm like, wow, I identify and enjoy this show.

It's infotainment. But all of a sudden, I'm like, okay, is this the direction we're about to go in? And if so, okay, thanks for the morning. I'm out. Did you think that the interview itself was indicative of a direction of higher learning? Or was it what, like the podcast as a whole? Or what's making the turn to say we've had one interview and now this is the direction of the show?

Because I've seen this happen. Like I've seen a show, I mean, obviously you read my bio and everything. I've been a producer multiple times. And on national shows, too, that were geared on. talking, we know about that combat is, we're going to spar. And frankly, I'd rather just see video view sparring in the gym than doing that. That was not the direction. And I've seen host say, all right, we're doing good, but now we got to ramp it up. Let's bring in people that are inflammatory, and then let's just have a sparring match. And that's going to be our

format. And that's not what I tune in to hire learning to watch or listen to. So I think that was the thing for me. And first off, let me just say about Jack. I don't, I think that, well, Van says it in that interview. I explained exactly the, exactly why Jack was on the show. Right, right. So he was on for one thing. No one could have predicted that that conversation would have turned that way. And I think in true higher learning form, you know, I, well, I checked out.

But I think Van kept the conversation going and combated the things that Jack was saying. So I, but that's, I'll say that part for something else. I think what bothered me when I saw the back and forth with you in Van is that you were generalizing our podcast in comparison to maybe what you've seen to something else. And I think if you are a thought warrior and you've listened to us over two plus years, you know exactly who we are. And we, you know, this was an interview that either one of us could see going a certain way. And even myself and I kind of come to, I guess a realization after it's over that I hated it while I was in it. But then talking it out, it was like so many, there are a lot of people who think this way. And it's not an invitation for all those people who think that way to come on.

But if that conversation happens on our podcast, let's address it and talk about it. You made it seem like we shouldn't have even been having those conversations. And so I guess my question to you, I went about it in a long long, way is it's like why do you think we should not address those type of conversations or because I wouldn't say we entertained it because we didn't know it was going to go there. We would have never invited him on to have that conversation. But once it was in front of us, we, I felt like we handled it in a higher learning, or at least Vand did. Well, intent is very important. And yeah, I mean, both of you were knowledgeable enough to have the conversation that apparently you

weren't intending on having. You were ready for that conversation. the viewer, the listener, does not know what your intent is. They are just tuning in. In many cases, this might be their first time seeing you or hearing you. And that's something to always keep in mind that the takeaways, I mean, listen, we work and live in sound bites, right? So what do you hear? And now a sudden that's what you associate that brand,

that person's brand with. You may not even know them. You may not Google them really fast. He's just like, yeah, didn't they have that crazy guy on there talking about there's no racism anywhere else, but he didn't know what apartheid was? like you have to keep that in mind this is a very quick viewers sound they have

choices that's where they can go y'all know that so I know your brand I was like I was there for it I even like made a list I was curious like what are the top podcast that I listened to and you guys came in at number three so I'm like wow so I know the power of my voice

and I use it strategically to just like hello reminder don't forget who you are you guys are dope people are tuning in to you regularly because we're like championing you guys. And I'll tell you like a backstory later on, but either way, the key thing is that I know your brand, but I also know the combination of, yo, get the people going,

let's get some sparring on here. And if it's going to be sparring, can it be about things that are not going to directly impact our black community? Because that was like, that was not what I'm used to seeing with you all. If anything, I'm used to you guys talking about that. And then, you know, having an intellectual conversation, but not inviting some people. somebody who's not ready for that type of a conversation to your podcast.

Can I just say in there really quick as a follow-up? I just thought about this. I just thought about this as you were saying this. We have actually interviewed someone before, and we chose not to publish an interview. I don't know if you recall this man, but they were spewing out such misinformation that was very harmful at a time when people were seeking information in regards to what was happening in our country in 2020. this was the COVID era that we said we're not even going to put it. I mean, we're still in the COVID era, but you know what I mean. It's the height of it.

And we decided not to put it on. So we aren't that podcast. But I think that if something is in front of us, we're also not one to back away from it. We're going to have the higher learning conversation. Oh, no. You definitely had the higher learning conversation. It's only that one of the three people involved was not prepared for that. And it was not looking good for him, put it that way.

Yeah, so this is my issue with a lot of the criticism that's been out there is a couple of things. Number one, we did the interview and we immediately knew what the interview was. And so I attempted on the podcast, I anticipated this. So I contextualized for people exactly why Jack was on there. Jack is somebody that I played basketball with for years, right? And that's how I know him. I hope with Jack. I play basketball with Jack.

I did not know what views that Jack held. Jack says that on my Instagram, I go back at Jack, and then all of a sudden, he's everywhere. He calls me up. He's like, man, I think people are misunderstanding me, bro. And I'm like, well, how are they misunderstanding? He's like, yo, man, like, I know you have a podcast. I would like to come on your podcast,

and for everybody that's on there sort of explain myself. No pre-interviewed Jack, bring Jack on. We do the interview. I come out and I challenge people to listen to it. because of how it is. I do what I need to do as a host is be responsible with my listenership and say, hey, this interview that you guys are about to hear

is going to be challenging for a lot of you guys. Okay? Then even after the interview was over at the end of the show, I once again come on there and talk to the audience again. Listen, I understand that sometimes we do interviews and we come in the show. Maybe this isn't the best direction of our show. show and this interview proves it.

So I make sure that I do. Your disclaimer at the top and the bottom. So you're assuming that the consumer is listening to the entire thing. Well, I would, I would, what I would, what I would assume is that if you had a strong reaction, this is me, maybe not for everyone else. What I would assume is that if you had a strong reaction to something that you listen to it in its entirety. But the, the, the fact that matters, not everybody is as thorough.

But to be honest with you. see the fact that people didn't do that, that right there is akin to who Jack is. Jack came on the podcast and was ready to have a conversation about issues and concepts that he hadn't fully interrogated. You see, me, I'm not the smartest guy in the room, but I'm not the dumbest. But when I do delve into something and move to talk about something, I've done my best to understand it. And so the only thing I can do in this position where this is a unique interview, right?

And by the way, this is not an interview with somebody who has a platform talking about these issues. I was in, I was in D.C. doing CBC. And when I was in D.C. on the CBC panel, they were talking about why black men, certain black men are voting Republican in higher numbers and what we had to do to combat it. And the first thing I said to the people on the panel was the first thing you have to do is engage them and talk to them because a lot of the people that are in the community don't have a fucking clue what it is that they're talking about. They're spewing things, giving stuff back out. The niggins on here talking about the printing press. Like, he's uneducated. So to me, pretending, number one, that he doesn't exist or that it's offensive to talk to somebody who has less knowledge than you,

is peculiar. And then secondly, once I understood that that was a shit show of interview, I felt bad for him. I wanted to make sure that my audience understood it was a tough interview for us. It was a tough interview for him. We tagged it at the top and the bottom to assure people that this is not typically what we do. I'm not sure what else we can do. Or you could have not run it. But why wouldn't we run it, though? what's the reason for getting I mean, fine, if he's not the regular Candace Owens,

you know, he's not out there regularly doing this, fine. But why run it now if you think that this would possibly be detrimental to your friend? Well, it would well, number one, I think he needs it. So as far as when I said I felt bad for him, I didn't mean that I had any sympathy. Those are two different things.

Feeling bad, feeling. He needs what, though? I'm not understanding, like, what does he need? Because that means, that just Oh, he needs to, like, the public response to that. Like, I didn't know who he was until you're a show. I'm heartbroken that he's from Baltimore, by the way. Yeah. So I'm just sitting here confused out of my mind.

Like, I don't know if that was the cathartism. I don't know, no, no, no, no, no, or whatever. I'm trying to figure out what he needs. No, no, listen to me. This is what I'm going to say. If you ask to get in the ring, right now, Jack's ideas, the guy that we're talking about the interview we didn't run,

he was spreading COVID misinformation. He was a doctor that we booked, and then we didn't understand he was spreading, COVID information. We can't spread COVID misinformation. We can't do that. We can't be that type of podcast. This, though, this to me, for, I felt bad for him that he put himself in that position, but I didn't feel any sympathy. Got 37 years old. So in that situation, we have to be better, and we also have to be a community that pushes each other to be better and be more knowledgeable on these things that affect us. And to me, I think the interview at the end of it,

was narratively was good because what I'm going to do for Jack now is I'm going to go into my my he's open I'm going to go into my room I'm going to go into my bookshelf and I'm going to provide him with some knowledge to better help him contextualize his world because I care about how educated people are about their society I don't think that anybody should be offended by it if you're annoyed that's one thing but I don't understand why people would be offended by that type of discourse. I think it's because right now gatekeeping is a big conversation, correct? Like we're always saying like, well, who has access to say, well, who can do what, right?

And at the same token, because that's cutesy stuff. It could be like, okay, we're allowed to have black women doing majorette stuff at a PWI. You know, you guys have talked about before. But then with gatekeeping with stuff that could possibly turn dangerous, like fine. Kanye, we all have described this. We've all decided that there's not a lot that's going to come from that. but the white lives only part, the all lives mattering of the conversation that you guys were unfortunately having, it was like, oh, God, we're about to go back. And as a person has, I think

we've all were kind of in newsrooms of some type covering between 2012, 13, 14, 15, you know, all of the police dash cam videos and stuff. We don't need to be playing devil's advocate right now. We're not out of that time yet. So yeah, I'm one of those people that is a little sensitive about, okay, we're getting into this All Lives Matter territory and not in a good way. And I didn't even know who Jack was, but then to Google who he was, I was like, oh, gosh. And now it's another athlete saying this too. Like, so he's going to have an impressionable, like I'm thinking about the far-reaching impact, not the one little conversation we're having right now because Words Matter,

this is a massive platform right here. So thank you for having me on here. But the responsibility in this platform is what I am most concerned about. So I don't know if you want to get stuck on, but she was offended. But me more about the fact that I'm very concerned, you have such an awesome program. And what we saw there, it did not feel like your normal mission and messaging. So that's why I was like, yo, I don't know about this. Real quick, Rachel.

Go ahead. The purpose of our platform is not to pretend like bad ideas don't exist. Okay. Like, and this is for anybody that's listening. like the purpose of our platform is not to pretend like bad ideas don't exist. The purpose of our platform is to interrogate them for the reasons that they're bad. And for me, if that means talking to somebody with bad ideas, he didn't even have bad ideas. He didn't have any ideas, right?

So it doesn't even matter if it's him or somebody else. I don't care about that. And by the way, I was in a bunch of those newsrooms, broke a bunch of those stories. I've had this conversation in all white spaces almost my entire life. So for me, especially the fact that he's black and for people to understand that there isn't, we're not all on the same page. We have more work to do and to talk about just how some of us are being duped. A lot of the stuff that was coming out of his mouth, he thought that it was well thought out.

So I guess my thing is I don't see any value. in protecting people from ideas that are actually out there. I mean, I wouldn't subject anyone to any misinformation, any disinformation. I wouldn't subject anyone to any abuse. If he was on here talking bad about black women, if he was on here talking down on the community, if he was on here doing, I'm not going to subject my audience to any abuse.

But to stupidity and bad ideas, that's the world we live in. Rachel, what are you going to say? I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no. It's fine. I was just going to say, you know, you talk about us having Jack on here and you didn't know who Jack was, but I think what's important is that, and you kind of really just touched on it and what you just said, Van, and what I was going to say is it doesn't have to be Jack. I think what was so, I felt was important about that conversation is that there are a lot of Jacks.

And if we ignore that line of thinking and just say, we're not going to, we're not going to even address it or talk about it because it's illogical or it's not. found it in any kind of reason or any truth, I think that that's problematic because there are a lot of jacks. And so for me, I thought it was a great opportunity for us since we are here. We didn't plan on having this conversation. But since we are here, let's have this conversation. And maybe not only it helps Jack, but it helps someone else on how to confront a Jack when they come into contact with him or realize there are other Jacks out here with these problematic views that hurt our community. I didn't think it was promoting Jack's ideas. I really did it.

But you're saying, you think it did. But it does inherently give him more notice. It gives him, like, I don't know what his social media following is already there. So it's like, yeah, he's only a bump, but it's not going to be phenomenal. He's not going to go viral. Sadly, he's going viral for that. But he's not going to like be known, hopefully, as Mr. the newest alt-right attentive or, I don't think he's going to take that role.

It doesn't sound like who he is. I don't know. I mean, if that was my friend, I probably wouldn't have put them, I probably would have cut it early. I mean, my ears were ringing and I've been like just, let's stop this.

Let's wrap it. I'm going to be real with you. That's not my style. First of all, I tell everybody something, I'll tell you everybody something. Everybody, I don't check the Reddit and the Facebook anymore,

but you guys, you guys are all literally one interesting statement from being invited on this show. Like, if you really have, have an issue that like you really want to get off your chest, I democratize the opinion. See, because where I'm from, just to be real with you, where I'm from, like, I didn't really have a choice in the people that I loved or the people who are around me who protected me. So it's some killers that I love. It's some drug dealers that I love. It's some people who went to jail

for domestic violence that I love. My only job in their life is to try to be somebody that shows them that there is a better, more functional way for themselves in their community, right? Me and Jack had never had one conversation about politics. We talk about basketball. We talk about fashion. He wears crazy clothes and he's very fashion forward. We had never had that one conversation. But when we had that conversation on IG, I'm like, oh, shit. And then we go back and forth. I felt bad that he went viral in. He hits me up and I'm like, hey, just to let you, I warned him about Rachel. I said, yo, I said, if you come on this podcast and you don't have your shit together,

Rachel gonna eat you up. So, but see all of that, once you're here, if you're not, if, if, cool, once you, once you're here,

if you're not in any way, injuring our audience, like, you're in the Lions den, you got to be able to stick, you got to be able to back up the shit that you're talking about. He couldn't.

We move on. The guests that we've had, we've very rarely had a guess that the audience was happy with. We've talked to academics. If they don't like the academic ideas, they're not happy. We've talked to people in other countries.

If they're not happy. It's not about that. It's about kind of the ethos that we feel like is nourishing. But like I said, we'll never do that again. You have to go. I'll give you the last word, Nikki. I appreciate your show. I still am a thought warrior.

And I really do love the fact that we have so many spaces that do not center whiteness in our conversation, but seem to be more about us and how we are developing as a nation. So I appreciate you guys for just continuing your show and being amazing. And I hope, I really do hope and pray that every show that you do reflects what higher learning is supposed to be about. Thank you so much. Yes. And we're glad we didn't lose you.

Soar. Thank you. I love you. Thank you. We're glad. Go Syracuse. Thank you. I see that in the back.

Thank you so much, Nikki. Nikki, we'll have you back on to talk about entertainment, like, all that kind of stuff. We'll have you back on. So reach back out to Donnie. We'd love to have you back. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you?

Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya, gusalcumab taken by injection is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away.

Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about trim fire. Tap this ad to learn more about Tramphia, including important safety information. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming. You deserve a break that actually satisfies. Sweet Green's new wraps have got you.

Real ingredients? Zero shortcuts. Everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken. Garlic aoli. Crumbled bacon. Corn salsa. Forty grams of protein.

Made to keep up with whatever. comes next. New sweet green wraps hit different. Order now at order. Dot sweetgreen.com. All right. What did you think about Nikki? I think it's great. Nikki's still with us. You know, for a second. Based on her tweets, I thought we were going to lose her. But I like that she was bold enough to come on the podcast to say what she thought. You know, that takes a lot to be able to say, listen, I don't agree with what you did. I don't like it. Don't do it again. She basically said don't do it again. But I definitely like her. She's a source. She's a story. And I, look, we appreciate your opinions.

We're thought warriors. It's what we do. It's what we do. But I just want to say this. We will probably have another Jack on the podcast. Damn. Came from Rachel. That's going to hurt your heart.

But I don't mean that, like, it's not that we're intentionally. We're not, because I think what I took a little bit offense to what I, offense to when I was reading the tweets is, don't make don't put us on the level as um like that um fab fit podcast you know what i mean like they just say stuff to stay stuff they bring people on that's not us and so so to we might do something that you don't like and we probably will do that again but it does not define our podcast as a whole so that's why i'm saying you guys we're probably going to we didn't purposely try to have a jack on but it happened it's probably going to happen again just trust us to handle it in the higher learning way.

And if you don't like it, you can talk shit about us on social and read it like you do. You're going to talk shit whether you like it or not. Hey, you know what? I like Nikki. Oh, yeah. And the reason why I made that face is because when you say she was brave enough to come in it, for some reason, I don't think bravery is something that that says has an issue with. No.

I would love to have her back. Not a Delta. Not a Delta. That's what we do. So you're telling me all deltas are courageous. The ones I know. If all deltas are courageous, then why wasn't a delta? No, what?

Why wasn't one brave enough to be in the White House, like the A.K.A's. Brave enough to be in the White House. It's not that they're not brave enough to be in the White. You know what the deltas were brave enough to do? See that what was happening over there with the A.K.A.s wasn't right. You about to start some shit. So they decided to say, you know what? You're about to start some shit.

Let's get this right. You're about to start. And in the year of 1913, they got it right. I hear a lot of people saying two words. I hear a lot of people saying eternal ivies. I hate you, know that. I went to Southern. I know all of this Greek shit.

All right. Supreme Court will not take the case of a black death row inmate convicted by an all-white jury. the Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away a black death row inmate's appeal that he did not get a fair trial because several jurors had expressed opposition to interracial relationships, prompting Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggests that the conviction may have been tainted. The overwhelming majority conservative court's decision not to hear, excuse me, the majority conservative court's decision not to hear the case over the dissent of Sotomayor and the two other judges, liberal judges, leaves in place, Andre Tomlin. Thomas' conviction and death sentence for murdering his stepdaughter in a gruesome attack, his estranged son, wife, who was white, and their son. During the selection process, according to Thomas' lawyers, three jurors expressed disapproval of interracial marriage, with one saying it was against God's will, and another explaining we should stay within our bloodline. Classic.

Third jurors said that interracial relationships harm children because they do not have a specific race to belong. The prosecutor implored the jury to impose the death sentence lest they risk having Thomas, who had dated multiple white women in the past. Ask your daughter out or your granddaughter out. Jesus Christ. After watching the string of girls that came up here, are you going to take that chance that this man is going to kill one of those women? Okay.

What's your thoughts on this? I'm sick. I'm sick about this because if you know anything, about this case? First of all, this happened in Texas. I knew it. Even before it, like, of course, this man had a trial in 2005 in front of an all-white jury. How does that still happen in 2005? How is a defense attorney, do you let that happen for your client? This is such a clear violation of the sixth amendment. I do not understand how it just shows the times that we're living in in the Supreme Court that we're under. I don't understand how the Supreme Court decided

this way. It is such a clear violation. Furthermore, okay, so when you're picking a jury, you have what's called, you have challenges, right? So you're standing there in Voidyer. That's how we stayed in Texas, or it's really voir dire. But, you're standing at front of a jury. Why are you looking at me like that? What the hell is that word? What is Vord Dyer? You know what?

Oh, oh, we're going legal. Donnie, give me the sound. Okay, first of all, you've got challenges that you can make, right? So you give your spiel in front of a jury. You're questioning them. You're asking questions. The first time that they meet you. This is really where they teach you, you win the case.

You win the case in this part, before trial even starts, because they're getting to know you, you're putting on a show, you're asking the right questions. So you're able to challenge jurors. You have a certain number of challenges. It's called a peripatory. Peripatory. I'm saying this right.

Peripatory challenge. I don't know what I've struggled saying this. In Texas, when the death penalty is on the table, you have 15 of these challenges. Each side gets them. And that means that you can let somebody go off the jury for whatever reason that you want, okay? For whatever reason.

I don't like, you're wearing a gray shirt. I don't like it. I don't even have to explain it. I'm just going to say, I want to, your juror number three, I want you off just because I don't like gray shirts, okay? You get 15, you get 15 of those without explaining. But then you have, you can challenge for cause if it fits under a certain category, right? There's several different reasons why.

But one of those reasons is if the juror has a bias or prejudice in favor or against the defendant. So when you ask a question to a juror, a potential juror, how do you feel about interracial relationships? And they respond in one of these ways, it shows that there is a clear bias to the defendant because he was in an interracial relationship and ended up murdering his estranged wife and their children. So how do you not strike this person for cause? How do multiple jurors who think this way make it onto a jury? You could have, as a defense attorney, I have no idea how you didn't ask to strike them for calls or how even a judge didn't get involved in this.

It's so obvious. It's just like textbook. And the fact that the Supreme Court is reading all of this and still can determine that this man got a fair trial when at the very beginning in jury selection, this was done the wrong way. And he clearly had an incompetent lawyer because the lawyer did not challenge this. It makes me so upset that time in multiple steps in this case in multiple steps in this case, this defendant was failed. And that's not even mentioning the fact that he pulled out his eye and then years later pulled out another eye and ate it.

And they found that he was insane at the time, but the prosecutor said he was insane because he had cough medicine at the time that he killed them. And that's what gave him irrational behavior, not because he is mentally insane. Because that's what he pled not guilty by reason of mental insanity or reasons of insanity. Donnie, you there?

I'm here. Don't you love when the eagle flies? It's the best. That was some, like, that was some fucking good legaling right there. That might have been the best so far. That was, I personally think that was the greatest eagle moment of advertised. Stop. Stop.

I learned so fucking much. I don't know, none of this shit. The only thing I learned about a jury selection I'll watch in that movie, The Devil's Advocate. And he was he was getting people out of there because of their shoes. Look at it. Look at their shoes. Look at their shoes. Get out of there.

And you could do that. So, I mean, there's no recourse here. Look, I don't know too much about the facts of this case. I briefly read over it a little bit. So I'm not sure about whether or not this gentleman right here is innocent or guilty of this crime as far as my particular determination. I do know, though, that doesn't matter in terms of what we're talking about. What matters is whether or not he got a fair trial.

And it's difficult to, to, argue that he did if the jury was operating with those sort of biases. I agree. I agree with everything that Richel say about. Supreme Court as a whole sucks. You don't like them.

Well, I mean, this is just so obvious. Like, this man literally is standing has, he has no eyes. He literally is not right. And you can't even hear this case? Well, I mean, to let everybody know I'm having a good friend of mine on the podcast,

Monday, Brett Kavanaugh will be joining us on higher learning. Your friend is back from Mississippi. Did you see this? Stop. Oh, I guess if Brett is your friend, then this Brett's mine. Two Brett. Brett Farms said he's been treated unfairly in the coverage of a Mississippi welfare scandal, including payments that he may have received as part of help of volleyball facility built at Southern Miss.

He says, I've been unjustly smeared in the media. In a statement to who? Fox News did. I've done nothing wrong this past time to set the record straight. No one ever told me, and I did not know that funds designated for Wells Fair recipients were going to the university or to me.

Farf said, I tried to help my alma mater, USM, a public Mississippi State University raised funds for a wellness center. My goal was, and always will be, to improve the athletic facilities at my university. Barb is not facing any criminal charges. He is among more than three dozen people or companies being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Okay. Mississippi auditor Shad White, a Republican who has investigated the welfare mispending, took a exception with what Farve said.

It's a Republican. God damn elephant. Obviously, Mr. Fav knew that he was being paid in government funds based on the text, who I told the Associated Press on Tuesday. He knew if those funds were coming from the Department of Human Services.

He's obviously acknowledged that he needed to repay those funds too, because Farr, of course, has repaid $1.1 million that he received from the TANF fund. Rachel? What am I supposed to say here?

I don't know what I'm supposed to say. I don't know. Brett hired Eric Hirschman as his attorney, a former Trump advisor. This is a man who, did he testify for January 6th committee? I think he did. I think he did. He's definitely been involved. I mean, he turned and he no longer is with Trump, but still, this is a man who used to advise Donald Trump.

Brett is desperate. Brett knows at this point he's looking really. guilty right now. Let go of whoever, a turn, whatever attorney he had before and he hired Eric. Listen, Brett is so guilty. The evidence is there. The evidence is so, it's, yes, you knew. We know you knew. You didn't want the media involved. You know, you, you were, you were trying to bribe them. I'm going to give you stock for this. Where, like, it's so obvious that you're guilty. So it's like, what else was he going to say?

What else was going to say? And didn't he say something like this was long overdue? I've waited long enough to say it. Brett, Brett, you're guilty. I have to talk to Brett Farv real quick. Talk to him. Brett, you're 53. You literally were born. Brett, you literally were born

a couple of months before Jay-Z. Brett Farf was born October 10th, 1969. Brett Farv, Jay-Z was born December 4th, 19th. 169. Brett Farve and Jay-Z, born within two months of each other. Think about the perception of Jay-Z right now.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. A beloved cultural icon. Some people have problems with him, rightly so. Mm-hmm. But what does he do? He dies off of both. I have issues with him because of certain things and the way he treated certain people

and the way things came out with a certain deal in the NFL. Whatever. Whatever. But what I'm saying is that, shout out to Colin Anessa. But what I'm saying is that, People love him. He has a lot of time left to be loved, is what I'm saying. Okay.

Okay. Rep. Farv is 53. That's a long time to live with people knowing that you are a complete piece of shit. That's a long time to be on this earth. You're still a relatively young man. Brett. You can still stop.

Okay. You can be changed. in Mississippi. You have a choice right now, Brett. Right now, if you want to be a good son of Mississippi, if you want to be a good citizen of this earth, accept responsibility for what you did, use your celebrity and your power to affect the systems in Mississippi that continue to short the poor and working people of that state, be a part of the solutions, not just in Hattiesburg, but in all over the state. Be what people think you are. Be what your reputation says you are. Because right now

you're not that. No one is stupid. The Republican auditor isn't stupid. We're not stupid. And Wolf isn't stupid. No one is stupid. You took the shit. You knew where it came from. And you had a very clear goal. It's not too late for you to learn a lesson. Even if you have to to get slapped on your neck legally. Sit back, unbutton your Wranglers. Don't show nothing to nobody. Sit back. Unbutton your wranglers, relax,

and think about not who you are as a football player, but who you are as a person. Because this shit right here is some of the worst shit I've ever seen. I also want to make sure that all of the sports networks, Fox, ESP, P.N. Series, stop, like, hold it in a little.

All of them understand exactly what a fall from grace this is. And they treat it accordingly. All right. And they treat it accordingly. So here's fall from grace. It's sad that it's that we're saying that this is a fall from grace when this man did what he did with the dick picks. You're right.

He's been, he's already, he's been falling. He's, I mean, he's fallen already. He fell. He needs to. to crawl to some grace. I'm sorry, Rachel. Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah. But this is a man who hasn't taken accountability really, it seems like, ever for his scandals. So, shocking that he doesn't know how to take accountability right now. Let's check in on racism around the globe. Here in Los Angeles,

the L.A. City Council, I'll know if you guys have been paying attention to this, but former Los Angeles City Council President Nore Martinez resigned from her seat on Wednesday. get the fuck out. She was the first to do so when she was, after being heard or over her, taking part in a leaked conversation that featured racist remarks and disparaging comments

about the colleagues. Now, have the other two resign yet, Donnie? Not as of this recording. Not as of this recording. The other two of these guys are Gil Sadio and Kevin de Leon. Let's run the audio. Yeah, that's go. kick him. Yes. I see a lot of little short, dark people. Yeah, Pluto, Guwahaken,

Korean. Not even like Kevin, little ones. I was like, no, I don't know where you people are from. I was like, I don't know what minutes they came out of got here, but. And so little, so one, so one, what, all the, you know, folks like was asked for him, he did call me, he wants to have breakfast with me. Um, was taking him so long. I just said, hey, we need to talk. You're supporting him from the... I don't worry, I got you. Um, uh, yeah, so he'll start seeing him line up.

He's with a black. There it is right there. So Martinez, she had stepped down of the position of president since she was taking a leave of absence. Now she's gone. She said to my staff, I'm sorry that we're ending it this way. Martinez said, this is no reflection on you. I know all of you will continue to do great work

and fight for our district. I'll be cheering you on. All three members have apologized for the conversation, but Martinez is the first to leave office. The story has been on our radar for a little while, but we wanted to bring it to you guys once there had been some resolution

because we weren't quite sure how the city council, how the brass here, and how the public would look at it. But L.A. has responded. Yeah. First of all, fuck you. Fuck day Leon.

Fuck Nouri and fucksadio fuck this whole meeting right here because it's illegitimate the people are shutting this shit down

afterwards this whole thing is racist the fact that they have the audacity to sit here in front of the people that they mocked that they minimized that they demonized that they marginalized is unacceptable

the fact that you are trying to continue with business as usual is Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. We are the people and we are the voices who matter in this room right now, not yours. I yield the rest of my time, but fuck this. Thank you.

Next, we have Pastor Thimbalik. L.A. has responded to this saddening and intense racism from people who are supposed to be shepherds. and stewarding the city. And the audacity of these council members. I mean, two still haven't resigned, but the president, it took her a second to resign. At first, she was just stepping away. The audacity to think that you could represent yourself as president of the LA City Council, knowing what that entails, knowing that you're supposed to represent the people in pretty much every facet. That's your responsibility. And you feel like you can say all those things.

things and still holds your position as if you don't have to be accountable for those things. Now that she's probably gone, she's probably like, it was the blacks. I'll tell you what, she's still going to be talking the same way. I guarantee you, if anything, this just made her more bitter. Sorry. I know that's an assumption, but even in her apology, you didn't, I don't feel like in any way you showed me who took offense to what you said as you were talking down on black people that you're sorry for how you offended.

a whole community of people. And it wasn't just black people. You didn't just talk about black people. But you haven't apologized specifically to any of these communities. So how do I feel like you're going to learn and be better from the situation? You're not. You'll probably leave L.A. and you'll go to another city and do this again.

I should probably stick around here. You think she'll stay around here? Yeah, she'll probably stick around here and run it back in a couple of years after things have died down. City council members come and they go and the scandals come and they go. This is why I want to. make sure, I want to make sure that there is, I want to do something to make sure that the black and brown communities of Los Angeles are together. There's something brewing.

And there seems to be a discord that is reminiscent of how it was when I first got out here. It doesn't always go swimmingly between the black and. and brown communities in there. And I'm not from here in LA. I'm an adopted son. So I'm not going to speak on different politics. And I'm not going to speak on how the neighborhoods get along because that's like not my

place, you know. But if I have children here, it'll be their city. It'll be where they're from, which is already an interesting thing to me that my kids won't be from Baton Rouge. They'll be from Los Angeles. It's just really, really interesting. But, you know, sometimes when you peel back the layers of solidarity that gets showed in public, these ideas are there in private. We know how things are in the prisons.

We know how things are in certain neighborhoods. You've had certain rappers and hip-hop figures recently talk about how they feel about black people and how that goes. I just hope I know there's two different communities with two different cultures and there are different communities within those communities but I just hope that

you know the Latino listeners the Hispanic listeners of higher learning know how much we stand in solidarity with them and how much we view our issues as being linked whether we want them to be or not

not totally but in some ways you know And I hope that we realize that in this country, there are forces that work against both of us. And a lot of those forces came from the same places. So we have to make sure that, you know, we stay on the same accord as much as we can. And stuff like this only does more to drive a wedge in between those communities. So, yeah.

For sure. Rick Rousseau, what would you say? You say he's white or black? White. He's white or black. He's white. Wrong. Wrong.

And I'm offended, Rachel. And you should be. I'm offended by what you just said. I'm offended that you, nah, I'm offended at you. You're offended that you call. You're wrong. It was wrong. What you just did was wrong.

You don't misrace somebody. Rick Russo, he knows what he is. Donnie, he was asked, Donnie, Rick Russo tell you what he is. Listen to this. And this question goes for the both of you. The next mayor of Los Angeles will be either an African-American woman or a white man. I'm Italian. Italian-American.

Thank you. That's Latin. Get the fuck out of here. Let me tell you something. Let me say so. I... This infuriates me what people do. It isn't...

It infuriates me, like, you know you're white. It infuriates me period when he was like, oh, correct. I'm Italian. But what the, I'm Latin. I am disgusted by that comment. I can tell you as I sit here today that I will be voting for Karen Bass purely off of that comment. Purely off of that comment. How disconnected from the Latino community are you to say that?

Just said it. didn't stammer over saying it or anything. Oh, that's Latin. Who told you that? Who told you that? And they let him say it. I would, excuse me, sir, I have a follow-up question. How?

How? You clearly don't understand the community that you're trying to represent. Y'all people need to be blasting that. You need to be upset. How can this man represent you when he thinks that he is one of you? Because he's Italian. So I feel for Rick Caruso. I do.

No, I'm not. Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I feel for Rick Russo. First of all, I was never going to vote for Rick Caruso. It was always counted. My slogan is Karen Bass on that ass. That's my slogan. Karen Bass on that ass.

All right. But let me tell you why I feel sad for Rick Caruso. This guy just doesn't know who or what he is. He was a Republican forever. He was a Republican forever. And because of the mayor's race, all of a sudden, he's a Democrat. That's a long time not to really know what you are.

He was white forever. He was white for decades. And all of a sudden, he's a Latino. Rick Caruso used to be down with like Perry Cuomo. He used to be down with like Fred Astaire, Mel Tourmet. And now he's telling us this whole time he's been living Lovita Loca. Down with the Brown?

He's down with the Brown. Look, look, he's probably really upset at Norey Martinez and everything that she got to leave. How could you represent us like that? Yeah, yeah, how could you represent us like that? Like, you know, Rick Russo, Latino, I want Rick Russo to prove it. Look, this is my thing to Rick Caruso. Prove it. You say you, Latino, prove it.

Shout out to all my people over there in Boyle Heights. Shout out to everybody over all of Cesar Chavez. Rick Caruso, this Sunday, we want to see you down there. We want to see you down there. We want to see you wake up, eat the chili quiles. We want to see you do the whole nine. We didn't take apart and share our culture with our Latino, Mexican brothers and sisters. I want to see you go and immerse yourself in the Latino culture.

Rickeruso. Fibola Raza! He has to change his slogan to that. This is all so fucking crazy. White people, man. What kind of crazy world? White people. We shouldn't be shocked, but it's just so ridiculous.

And you say he doesn't know who he is. The man knows exactly who he is. He's a manipulator. That's who this man is. I just can't believe you fixed your mouth to actually say that. Where am I Italian folks? Is that how y'all are identity? the five. Somebody come on. I start a

start a red stuff, read it up on that. I want to, I want, I want to hear, see the discourse on that. Shout out to all my time. Shout out to everybody. Just we love you the way you are. All right. Before we get to mailback, Donnie. It's not me, Rachel.

They've been sitting it to me too. I don't know. What happened? Now I'm getting it. I'm getting it. It's not me, Rachel. There is more do you know that? Do you like, there is more. I shouted out Colin and Nessa earlier in the podcast, okay? Do you know both Colin and Nessa sent me gifts of mountain lions?

Congratulations to those two amazing, awesome human beings on the recent addition to their family. Couldn't be happier or proud of my sister and my brother for everything that they have done and everything to continue to do. So shout out to them. But yeah, it's more mountain. Lion Madness. They got a video of a Mountain Lion getting his dinner. Shout out to the deer. It's tough.

But, you know, this is the cycle of life. Donnie, run the video. Rachel, do you feel like we're living? Seriously. Do we feel like we're living in the era of Mountain Lion? Seriously. Well, I think we always have been. And I think that's what the videos are showing.

Right? They've always been with us. they're, you know, it's just, I get shocked every time we get tagged in videos because I'm like, they're really, these are just the mountain lion that they're capturing. Imagine how many else are out there. How many? No, we're not living in the air. I mean, for you, it's year of the, of year of Mountain Lion.

Like, for sure. 2022 has been, it's been an awakening for you. You're a mountain lion. Yes. For sure. Yes. But is it the air? No, we've always been living.

them. If you guys in the next couple of years see me, I'll never own a mountain lion. It would contradict everything that you believe. I can't believe if I put a in there. Disgustingly disrespectful. I'll never own mountain lion. I'll never own one. But if you guys see me one day living amongst the mountain lion, living amongst

Mount Lion and it's like being grizzly man, but a mountain lion, Don't be surprised. I don't be surprised if I completely wig out at like 55. It's 13 years. And I'm just out there. Van Lathen amongst Mountain Lion. I love him. I love them.

I love her. Donnie? Mailback time. Time to read your letters. And then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback. time write us with your queries and we'll chime in all right uh this mailbag is specifically dedicated uh to literate culture to literate culture

is that your idea that's fantastic that was book book centered questions so uh the first one is from Corey CoB.R. on Reddit, he asks, or she asks, what's y'all's favorite book that you haven't read? I know what this question means, and it's a really good question. It's a really fantastic question. My favorite book, the book that has had the most impact, but a book that I have never, ever read before. But how would you know? Just a book, think about it. Just a book that people always talk about that's really, really important, but that for some reason, you never cracked it. I got, you're going to say the Bible, huh?

No, but you know what's funny? I thought you were going to say that. Heathen. I thought you were going to say that. I really did. But you know, to that point, you know what the book is for me? What? It's the Quran.

It's had an impact on your life? Are you just been curious about it? You've been curious. Yeah, I've always wanted to read it. And I actually took some classes and some other religions during my summers a couple of years back. I took some classes here and some different areas of Beverly Hills on some different religions. But I don't have any real connection to it. And there's so many Muslims on the planet.

And it's a religion that's so easy to. well, it's not easy to. It shouldn't be easy to. But it's a religion that's been so vilified by so many of the worst people in the world. I've never taken the time to really dig into it. And I do want to one day. Oh, shoot. I guess I hadn't answered it yet. I don't know. That's tough. It's a good question. And I really have to think about it. I feel like I need to be staring at my bookcase as these are my books. But at my bookcase as I'm answering these questions. It's a great question. I don't really think about that. All right. Next one is from Jerry Louis or Jerry Lewis on Instagram.

What is your least favorite book? Mine. I wish that wasn't my answer. Is that your answer to? I wish that wasn't my answer. But for all those that enjoyed fat, crazy and tired, I'm so happy that you did because it's a tough read for me.

Yeah, exactly. It seems self-indulgent. It seems. That's it. arrogant vap it to sit down and say all of that stuff about yourself it does and i know that's a sucky answer but that's exactly what i was going to say but it is true you get i got sick of me i got sick of we talked about this on this podcast before i got sick of talking about me i feel like it was great for other people to read it but for me it's a tiring process is an exaught like you you read it

over and over again you're writing it you're it's that's definitely the correct answer and when you said that was your answer. I thought you meant my book was the same for you. And I was offended for three seconds. And then I realized you were talking about your book is, is worth to read just for the chapter on copper. Just for the copper part. That's just for the copper part. That's beautiful. It was good. All right. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Donnie. Next one. All right. From Lorraine on Instagram, what's your earliest book memory, book or library memory? I have another police favorite book. A book that I read

I'll tell you why Hillbilly elegy Oh, wow By J.D. Vance. Is it the book or him? Let me tell you why. I read Hillbilly elegy And the reason I read Hillbilly elegy

Because I read outliers And then outliers, there's a pardon outliers I'll come to the next question in the second, Donnie, but about honor culture. And it talks about how Malcolm Gladwell talks about how They went down to a place in the Appalachians or something like that. Or there was a study done in Michigan and something like that about how those guys are all wound up.

It reminded me a lot of the people where I was from in terms of the honor culture and how you can't be no bitch and how you got to know how to fight and all that stuff. So I read Hill, Billy Elogy, and it was relatable in a way. And it was relatable in a way in terms of they're not from the south, they're from the mid-south or from the Appalachians, southern adjacent. it. But now I feel like the book was written completely in bad faith. I feel like the book was sort of

an Obama-era nice guy's way of describing all of this shit that did make any sense. I'm even sure if the book still came out in President Obama's 10. It might have been like 2015 or something like that. I can remember. But reading it now,

Every time I see J.D. Vance, the book seems like it's filled with lies and made up stories. I'll be honest with you because he is so non-reflective of any of the things that are in the book. And when I see it now, I think about the time that I donated my time to having read it, it bothers me. It's interesting because you talked about this. You talked about being. disconnected from the black community. Like you talked about that being a form of white supremacy to be disconnected. He seems if what he's saying is true in that book, he seems very disconnected from that life,

which is why you probably don't think that it's true. Well, he seems like he's, well, if you read the book, I want to interrogate this deeper. Not in mailbag. We haven't talked very much about J.D. Vance. We have to get on our political shit next week. We got a lot of guests coming up. We got a lot of guests coming up. We do.

We have to get on our political shit. It's time to ramp it up. We'll talk specifically about J.D. Vance and the lie and the misleading, the con, that is Hillbilly Elgy. I want to talk specifically about that. I've been thinking about that a lot every time I see his smoke fucking face. All right. I'm sorry, Donnie. What was that last question?

It was, what's your earliest book or library memory? Can I tell a story? Go ahead. Boom. So check this out. University of Terrace Elementary School in the 80s. I'm a kid, you know what I mean? I'm walking around there.

We get a new computer. Right. I might have told this story already. And there was a contest to name the computer. There was one computer for the whole fucking school. So it was a big deal. Computer in the library. There's a contest to name the computer.

We grew up where the Negroes go to school. We didn't have a whole computer lab. I remember we moved to Texas. And we moved to Texas and they were like, it's computer day. Yes. Oh, no. We moved to California or like, we move out to California. It's like, it's computer day.

I was like, it's what? It's computer day. And I walk into this room and the room is wall to wall computers. But it's a whole room. It's like 20 or 30. I'm like, fuck. I'm like, what are we doing the computers? And the computers just like, you can do whatever you want.

So kids playing Oregon. trail. Yeah. They're doing, they got the floppy disk. They're doing the whole thing. I'm like, y'all got this many computers.

Y'all got to be rich. University of Terrace, one computer. School for the blacks. Okay. So there was a, the computer was in the library and there was a, there was a contest to name the computer.

And I just knew that I was going to win the contest, right? And I came up with the term quasi-modo. Okay. Like, I was naming it after a bunched back another day. Just because I thought that, That would really get people going. Okay. Right.

So this is what won. Our mascot was the Eagles. Mm-hmm. And one kid just decided to call the computer the electric eagle. On your face, pure disgust. I remember I thought electric eagle, nigger. You know what I'm saying? I'm like electric eagle.

There's no thought. The electric eagle. I was like, he won. So anyway, like, we're in the library. We're in there. And I see a book and it has a little thing on it. And I was like, what is that thing me? And the teacher went, that's a Newberry Award winning book.

Oh, yes, yes. Those are the books that we read in class. So those are the best books right there, the ones with a little thing on the Newberry Award winners. And I was like, oh, okay, if these are the best books. Well, these are the books that I'm going to read. And I started this thing of being in the library and reading all the Newberry Award winners. And that started my trek into books, like going into the library, looking at the books, because there was a different award just for pictures. I can't remember what the name of that one.

But I remember all of the Newberry Award winners that they were having there. I would go in there and I would read them. and that's the way. And then my teacher was like, she was like, you know, there are books that are really good that don't win the Newberry Award. No.

Newberry Award winners. Only in his brain. She's like, no, there's plenty of books. You're going to read a lot of books. She's like, because you know it's only for like kids books. She's like, when you go to middle school,

you're going to be reading different books. I was like, I'll find out whatever award they have then and now I'll read those books. You know? But like the electric eagle is what made me really start going to the library. trying to win that contest.

Look, look at that guy or woman. I don't know who named it. So I was a bit of a jack as a child. I hated to read as a kid. Both my sisters loved to read. I hated it, didn't like it. And the first time I got interested in reading were the mystery books, Nancy Drew. I was really into the Nancy Drews.

Then I got really into the goosebumps. And so I wasn't reading award-winning books. I was reading books with really good plots where they had a good ending that were like movies to me. They felt like movies as I was reading them. So that would be my earliest memory of books. But I used to hate it. I'm so glad I didn't stay in that mindset. Now I just don't have the time to do it.

But yeah. Did you ever read Judy Bloom? I must, I must increase my bus. No, my little sister did. No, that wasn't me. That wasn't for me. I read a couple of those. You did everything.

Yeah, but so you know what else though? You know what else? Bookwise, like, used to kind of get it. So I was a kid that liked to eat. Mm-hmm. And they had Book It. Do you remember Book it? Vaguely.

Is this what you got points? You read a, yeah, you read a book. And then they give you a thing and you actually go to Pizza Hut and get a personal pan pizza. I remember the first thing. I remember the first time. Now, we were, so my childhood, Baton Rouge, Texas, California, back to Louisiana. So first grade, kindergarten, kindergarten, Louisiana, first grade, Texas, first grade,

no, kindergarten Dallas, first grade, Louisiana, second, third grade, Louisiana, fourth grade, Texas, fifth grade, fifth and sixth grade, California, sixth grade to the rest of Louisiana, right? So we're moving around trying to chase the economy. But basically three or four years out of my childhood, we were in different places. And Bookit was really a thing in Texas in Dallas when we lived in Dallas, right? Book it was really like a thing then. And like, I remember not thinking that they were actually going to give me the pizza. It's like I read the book. Yeah. Are you going there? You read the book.

You go in there and they give you the little thing, personal pan pizza. And my mom's like, okay, let's go get your pizza. And I'm like, they're not going to give me no pizza. This little thing for a personal pan pizza, they're not going to actually give me a pizza. Do you understand for a little, I almost want to get emotional? Do you understand how much a pizza meant to me, how bad we were doing? Like a pizza from Pizza Hut? Yeah.

Like that was like a, I go in there and I give them the thing. and they give me a little pizza. And I'm like, fuck. I'm going to read every fucking book. The program did what it was supposed to do. Yeah. Fucking book it, man. They should bring it back.

Was it Pizza Hut? I don't know why I think. It's still around, apparently. It's still a thing. 30 plus year strong. I'm on the website right now. Yeah. Can you, is there an age one?

Because I read some pizza. I read some. Where do you get the? Do they say? still get pizzas or have they up to it? I think so. It's pre-k to sixth grade. And damn. Still a thing. It's their age limit.

So they still got book it. Think about if they had book it for adults. They should do that. They should open the Pizza Hut if you're listening. I know y'all listen with the triple tree box. Clearly there are some people who would need to tap into this program. By the way,

yes. By the way, I want my triple tree box for this Christmas. All right. I want it. Okay. One of the triple tree box. I forgot about the triple tree box. Pizza Hut, we got to end the podcast. We're going too long. Pizza Hut, y'all need to do book it for adults.

Niggas need to read, but we need to test them before they can get to pizza. Or like registering to vote, or is that too much? Did that take it too far? Did I take it too far? You can't, you know, you can't give a pizza for voting for Karen Paz. But like, that would be hilarious. But like, yeah, pizza, personal pet pizzas. Pizza hook call us.

High learning, we'll do something with you. Voting register pizza parties. Yeah, I like it. I like it. All right. Take thing, caps off, but do not stop learning. I'm Dan Latelythe Jr. I'm Rachel Lynn Lindsay.

Bye, guys.