Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Biden’s Budget, Pretty Privilege, and the Horrors of ‘Quiet on Set’

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay start the show off with some "gender wars" banter (02:21) and a quick shout-out (04:37) before diving into Biden's proposed budget (18:42). Then, they talk about the Nickelodeon atrocities highlighted by the documentary ‘Quiet on Set’ (50:13) and the internet’s reaction to Beyoncé’s latest drop (1:22:07). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? I learned who's on and is I, Van Blasie Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Mandingo fan. Van, no lie. People are in my DMs talking about Van Scent me here. Van sent me here.

You see the kind of trouble you caused? Because I'm helping you, Rachel, I feel like I'm helping you. I'm helping you. Helping me what? I'm helping you come to terms. With what I really want for myself? Yeah. And who are you today?

Who are you today with these sunglasses on? Like every day it's a new prop. It's not a new prop. This is how I look. You know. I don't think I've ever seen you wear sunglasses. I want everybody to get used to this. this is how I look.

Everybody's like, you know what? Like, just people I know in general, I can see that, like, most people are, most of the men that I know are very happy about me, but the men in my family are, ecstatic. They're so ecstatic to see me in the cowboy hat. It's ridiculous.

They're going to get like a lit roller for the hat. They, they, they're static to see me in the cowboy hat. They love it, right? But like I said, women, there's a hater gene in women that like whenever a man is having too much fun doing something or whenever he is like too too into something, there's a hater gene that just, and the hater gene, I want to ask this, why does, why when a man looks like he's enjoying something too much is it just a part of women that just be like? like, stop doing that. Don't do it. I don't like it.

Calica's very, very, very supportive. I know. She's into it. Just other people, it's like, hey, hate her, hate her, hate her, hate her, take that hat off. You need to take that hat off. You need to take that hat off.

I'm the one to tell you right now to take that hat off. Why do, why women so controlling? Okay. Wow. Is this how we're starting off the line? We're at war, okay? Forget having a conversation about gender wars. This is you versus me right now because I'm not going to let

you sit on here and start the top of this podcast, disparaging women this way. Not all women are haters. Not all women like to control things. And not all women like to prevent men from having a good time. You might be the problem. Van, see,

for people who are watching, you don't understand how much he's feeling himself right now. I'm convinced he's not even looking at me. He put the sunglasses on just so he can stare at himself. He's looking at himself with the hat on. Go ahead, man. When you get this new hairline, I know you're going to be acting different.

Next week. That might be the end of the podcast. Next month. I'm going to get my shit right over my eyebrows too. Is I'm going to have a whole, because it's still going to move back, right? So I'm going to get it low as possible. Wait, it is.

Come back. Well, there are people that have to have multiple ones. Like LeBron? I don't know if LeBron has had to have multiple ones. Has he had to have multiple ones? I think so because he had it. And then he started using the headband again to cover it up.

And now it looks really good. So I think he had, he at least did it once again. Adam 22 from No Jumper just had to go back. And get another one. Well, why is that? Because I actually would be very curious about, you know, with the hairline.

You know, I might have a little, you know, I embrace who I am. You're going to get a hair transport? Well, I mean, you know, I could maybe take an inch off my forehead. Can you imagine? That's what I'm talking about, Rach. We share everything here at higher.

I want to shout out a YouTube channel right now. And none of my friends or compadres over at No Jumper and even some of my friends are compadres over at FitMunity World, none of them are going to like this. What I have to shout out a podcast, a YouTube channel that I get a lot of, a lot, a lot of entertainment from. And I'm not, it's going to piss off some of the no jumper people. It's going to piss off some of the people over at Back on Fit.

I got a shout out of a guy doing a YouTube channel called Point and Shoot. Man, it's basically a reaction channel to stuff that happens in the No Jumper, sort of whatever universe. I think the dude is a comic genius. Not everything he says is fair. So he's making fun of them. Yeah. Not everything he says is fair.

But he's hysterical. It's ridiculously funny. Just little things that she says to me. That's funny. It just popped your algorithm. Little things that he says to me are funny. He's like, you must apologize for this. Do you understand?

Do you understand? I'm commanding. you, the sheriff's in town. The dude is hilarious. I think he's a comic genius. Look, some of the things that he says about the people I can understand why they are upset, I will say that. I understand why they don't fuck with it.

But as an outside observer who's just watching everybody doing content, I could not watch as much as, you know, when I'm getting entertainment from someone, I got to put them on. I could not watch as much of this and not say that this dude is hilarious. I just looked him up. I've seen them before. We should have them on the podcast. but you never see his face so he doesn't

Oh then that must have been somebody else's video No he doesn't This motherfucker The sheriff Like he can't come out He can't pop out He can't show his face

He doesn't show his face That's another thing He doesn't show his face He does all this He doesn't show his face I don't think he could show his face At this point Because he's got

With so many of these people At this point That he couldn't show his face I think they He would probably They would probably want to do something to them in LA. Maybe, but I'll tell you what. So let's have a lot with like a dark screen,

Justice's voice. There's a dark screen. You have the voice out there. Some of the videos are so. I'm into it. Anti-Adam 22. 22. Let's do it. Yeah. Okay. I mean, look, once again, it would be whack of me not to at least comment on this person

when I'm getting this much entertainment from it. Rachel, are you feeling, Are you feeling like Are you feeling like Self-conscious about your forehead Today? You're touching it on. Am I?

I just touched it, man. I just touched it. This angle isn't really working for me. I'm in a hotel room. I'm not loving this angle. You're not trying to dance? I'm not, I've never been. Okay.

No. It's too much. Oh, the camera fell. You're too much right now. Yes, I've thought the bangs. Yes, I'm doing a side swoop now. But that's neither here nor there. I'm not self-conscious about my forehead.

I've been rocking with it for 38 years. But I am treated by the hairline situation. Oh, okay. I mean, they do it. I mean, you, you, I didn't know that it happened for women. Oh, no, I told you. They're famous, yeah, they're famous women that have done it. Like, yeah, like, I'm, I'm,

I've only heard rumors. I'm into it. You know, like I never wanted to fix my gap. I've always embraced my forehead. But I would be considered, I would consider maybe a little change up. You can't fix the gap. No, I would never.

Yeah, the gap is too distinctive. It's too. The gap is almost, it's, the gap is something that almost always is looked at as attractive on people. when they're attractive. The gap is one of those enhancers and detractors. If you're attractive, the gap...

Right. This is so true. So if you're attractive, the gap makes you more attractive. If you're not attractive or looked at as not attractive, man truly believes everyone is beautiful, right? I really do believe that, by the way. The gap makes people think that you look worse. I think that everybody...

That's a fact. There's plenty of things like that. But people don't want to talk about them. Beauty is such an interesting thing. I watched the two personal podcasts with Taylor Rooks. And Joy. And Joy Taylor. The two tailors, the Taylor sisters.

And they were talking about pretty privilege on there. Smart up a conversation between me and Joy about. Pretty privilege. I would like to have a discussion about pretty privilege and what that really means because I think it's an interesting conversation.

Do they believe that they haven't? I would never speak for somebody as outspoken as joint table. But it was a very interesting conversation. Oh, no, I thought maybe she said it. Not to just speak for her, something she said on the podcast. Yeah.

Well, it wasn't much on the podcast as they talked about. This was actually on the pivot. D.A. Pivot. I've changed the name of the podcast. DA pivot what they talked about. I think it's an interesting conversation. Because you know what?

You never know people's experiences. You think that you know how people have it easy and how people have it hard based upon what society deems valuable and not valuable. But almost everything is a double-edged sword, but I do think it's important to talk about things in the way that they're perceived

and in the way that they're valued in society. I think the conversation around pretty privilege is interesting. I do too. Do you feel like you had pretty privilege in your life? Yes. Ooh. No, I, how could I say no when I was on the Bachelor?

Do you know what I mean? Like the Bachelor picks, and, you know, I've spoken out against this and so I don't have other contestants. They pick a particular type of person. Right. And so how could I be on a reality show that, you know, it's all about how you, it really is about how you look, how you get chosen. How could I say I didn't have it? You know, I'm not saying I've had it all the time, but I can absolutely point to moments in life where I had it.

I have pretty privilege. See, that's the thing. That's why I like being regular. Because I know for a fact that you got to get it out the mud. I can't say that nobody ever put me on because I look good. You know what I mean? The rest of y'all, they have to look in the mirror and go, did I just get this because I'm good looking?

Did I just get this? because of whatever, whatever. I know that it's all about what's inside me. That's why I enhance, and I use the cowboy hat, and I use the sunglasses. Because now I got sexy cowboy privilege. Let me tell you something about pretty privileged. It might get you into the door.

Where did you come from? Okay. Get out of get the guy to go. Let me have this moment. When did you come from? Where did you come from? That's me. That's when I walk into place as well.

So what you say? Pretty privilege does what? Pretty privilege gets you, might get you in the door, but it doesn't keep you there. Right? Because if you were pretty, no, because you have to have more to offer. I'll say something really bad. Say it. No, I can't.

But you have to have more than offer. You can't just be pretty and that's it. There has to be something more. So it might get the attention of someone, but it's not what keeps you. you there. You got to have some sort of talent. You got to add more to the table. You got to go beyond pretty. Yeah, the only thing I would say to that is this. And that's definitely true. And all the people that we're talking about here are incredibly talented people. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Joy Ann for sure. Incredible talented. Only thing I would say about that is this.

In an industry where the chance matters so much where the opportunity matters so much still you know what I mean it's so like the you have to have more but once you're in the door you can almost develop anything

right? That's not true it is true or you have the chance you have the opportunity to develop you're going to get a chance if somebody else might not get because you're pretty

and once you're in the door Look, a lot of these places that you go, the last thing we'll say we'll get to Joe Biden. But I'll say this. I hope this is a message that everybody can take. Being there is 70% of it. Being there. How do you get there? The access.

There are so many people. For sure. Yeah. There's so many people that I know right now that given the opportunity, would just be able to learn on the job and master parts of their craft. Just learn on the job. I got the TMZ.

I didn't have a journalism background. I didn't have too much skin in the game in terms of television. But just me using the tour to be able to get inside of the office, there's enough osmosis that can happen to somebody like me. I'm looking around.

I'm grabbing. I'm seeing how things work. I'm seeing how things work. I know so many talented people from my hometown and from other places that don't have the opportunities from the access in terms of access, which I'm trying to facilitate

that that would happen. So anything that helps you get that access is an advantage. You're right. It totally is. I will agree with you about the access of it. Okay, man. Let's move on.

Why is it so why is it so why is it so inciting to you, offensive to you, that I feel. No, it's, listen, I feel fantastic right now. I bet you do. You look great.

You look great. See, look, look, I have no problem saying that. You look great. Ashley, how many times have I complimented him and the cowboy hat? I'm like, this is your look. You look amazing. Not enough. I had to do a moderator panel with Andy Cohen this morning.

Andy Cohen? Yeah. What's he up to? Being Andy, being Andy. But it was for, it was for L'Oreal. And we were talking about, yeah, we were talking to a group of marketers about, like, the success of what Bravo has done and brand building and fandom and comparing it to consumers and products. And it's a really interesting conversation.

So that's why I'm all made up. That's why I did this morning. But, you know, I had a great night, too. Well, shout out to, uh, shout out to Andy Cohen. Shout out to L'Oreal. shout out to everybody over there trying to get it trying to get what they have to get.

I'm not hating on you though but when you start dancing you don't use your words and you know we're podcasting so for those people who are listening there's just silence of you moving your head around or moving your shoulders

or whatever it is that you do. I just want you to eat. They can feel it. Yeah. So last thing I'll say we'll get in the Bible but this one's saying so

there's a document. Maybe it's not the right podcast to bring this up on, but I will. There's a documentary by Michael Jackson called This Is It. Never saw it. I couldn't. It was too emotional. Go ahead. One of the coldest things in the world was said on that documentary.

And what was that? So Michael was they were rehearsing. And it was like something that was supposed to happen, an effect that was supposed to happen behind Michael. right? And Michael was telling them that he wanted it to be done in a different way. And the director, who also was the director of the high school musical movies, the director is saying, well, Michael, if we do it this way,

you're not going to be able to see it. So how are we going to know your, how are you going to know your cue when it's time for things to start? Michael said, I'll feel that. So that's you right now. I feel, no, that's them right now. So Rachel, for people that I don't know, Rachel's food just arrived. Rachel, I'm going to do something right now.

I'm going to challenge you not to eat on the podcast. I need to coat my stomach just a little bit. That's going to be a challenge. I'm going to challenge. Everybody, why everybody here this challenge, Rachel's food just arrived. I'm going to challenge Rachel to put us first and not eat on the podcast. Rachel, is that possible? She's stuffing bacon down her throat.

Pork. Her pork-based diet continues. Rachel, how many days a month would you say you go without eating pork? More than you think. Yeah, whatever. All right. On the other side of this, we're going to talk about Joe Biden's budget proposal. Yeah.

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I'm ready. Let's go. Higher learning retraction. I was off base last podcast with my criticism about Biden and the unions. Oh, a mistake was made. Who was on base? Rachel was on base. Rachel was on base like Juan Pierre.

Rachel was on base like, Juan Pierre. like Ricky Henderson. That I know. I knew Ricky. Rachel was on base like Curtis Granderson, like Lou Brock, like Tim Rock Raines. Rachel was on base like Marquis Grissom.

Van was off base. Van was off base. What were people saying, though? No, no, no. I got hit up by a lot of people, a lot of intellectuals. People were like, it was a complicated issue, but it's not just in Biden walking the line the union. It's about rhetoric. It's not, it's more than rhetoric. It's about also things

that the White House has done. It was a blind spot. I apologize to the audience. Lower learning. It's a demerit for lower learning van. It's because front of mind for you, you're anti-Biden. So you can't see what Biden is doing because you're always against him. So I'm curious as you're going to tackle this next subject of what you think about Biden's budget proposal. So a lot of people would think that I would bristle at the anti-Biden situation. I'm not. I'm going to contextualize what I'm anti.

I'm not necessarily anti-Biden. I'm not anti-Biden at all. But what I am anti in a real way, and I have to be honest about this, is how about this? I'm not anti anything, but I am incredibly cynical. And my cynicism comes from, and I'm not saying this about that anybody else doesn't have this. I'm certainly not trying to put people at odds. My cynicism comes from the fact that I think I am maybe too invested into the actual, into the complaints of people

who are back in Baton, bad which I talk to on an everyday basis. And they are wanting something different and they can't feel it and they can't see it. I think I have to do a better job of messaging to

myself and the messaging to them and being open to the actual facts on the ground in terms of how things are working in America from a policy standpoint. I give you an example. I was talking to somebody

about doing a fantastic initiative and the initiative has to do with something that's very close to my heart. And that is black male literacy. Black male literacy, particularly in young black males. This is one of the only things

that I feel like I can actually affect. A lot of this other stuff I've plunged on about my ability to actually be effective on it. But a while ago I did this video and it went viral and it was challenging people to read books. A lot of the feedback that came from that was that, hey, are you aware of some of the literacy rates that exist, particularly for young black males in middle school

and going to the high school age and some of these numbers? And when you look into these numbers, they're actually shocked, right? So the question is, don't just challenge them. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's pretty staggering. It's just a fact. So the question, the question is, it's not to be overstated, but it's, it's an area of concern that if we're going to challenge people to read and be more well read, that we also need to be able to give them the tools to utilize these great books. and if minds are falling through the cracks, it's actually unfair to ask them,

hey, go out and do this when they're not even the position to be able to absorb some of this information. It's important to get out there and be on the front lines about that. If you're going to tell me to read, hey, will you teach me how to read? So there's a conversation I had with someone about an initiative around that that they're doing. and the moment that they started talking about the political aspect of it, that they might be

endorsing certain candidates or they might be involved in certain political initiatives because it's education, so it's policy, right? I didn't want to do it. I was like, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. What I want to do are things that are grassroots that connect black people directly with people and what they need.

And I don't want to have to go and sit in front of a politician and then negotiate black literacy. I don't want to do that. what I want to do is decide who's how we raise money, how we're most effective, and then I want to affect people right where they're on. I want to be grassroots. I want to come from the people. And the more I started looking into it,

you just can't do it. It's education. It's just too difficult to do it the other way. There has to be some sort of involvement. from a policy standpoint with politicians that you trust and you know that you can hold accountable. And that is just a reality. And even me at my big age, what I'm trying to do is understand how in any way I can still believe or put stock in something that consistently disappoints black Americans.

And this doesn't mean that involvement in the political process is not a part of my life as an American citizen. It's not true at all. You have to be involved. If you're not involved in the political process, you're a hostage to it. Right.

But the question is, what can we do that doesn't involve that? What can we do that, well, we can't, where we can't let somebody else disappoint us. And this just might not be one of those things. But I say all that to say that, like, when I say that I'm really affected by something, I'm not lying about it.

So post-George Floyd, when everyone is coming to the table and re-contextualizing and having conversations about what American race relations are going to be moving forward, I was on. So this is the last chance you. I was on some, if this moment doesn't in any way ignite something that's a little bit different, then it all really is bullshit. And then we have to move off the grid and figure out ways to de-involve ourselves in conversations with people who don't give a fuck about us.

If we're going to argue liberal versus conservative ideology, well, let's argue it amongst ourselves. Let's argue it amongst ourselves in the way that we build and the way that we go. Let's argue like what works for us and what this. And there's no way to do that outside of the American political system, but there is a way to have these conversations that are a little bit more siloed that don't involve black people being mad at you because you don't enjoy, because you don't completely believe in the Democrats or black people being upset with you because you're disillusioned with the Democrats or that you have,

criticisms about the way they govern. And so honestly, I have to be more responsible about that. I have to be more responsible about the fact that that there are real political dangers out there and those real political dangers aren't going to go away because I'm sad or because I'm cynical

or because I'm disillusioned. That you have to meet them and use the weaponry available to you to combat them. And so that's the thing. However, I'll say all that, and that's something that I'll take into consideration. But I also say this, you got bad babysitters. You got bad babysitters. The Democrats, the Republicans, the American political establishment, bad babysitters.

You got bad babysitters. You do. But I'm saying, and I'm saying this for, I'll continue to do this. There is nothing to be gained. Nothing to be gained by soft peddling a negotiation with tigers and lions. Everybody up there is an animal. They're more cunning than they are smart. Half of the motherfuckers can't even string together a sentence.

I'm serious. half the people that you're up there when you hear them talk, they can't even put a sentence together. They're legitimately not that bright. I'm just talking about the whole lot of them. Think about the politicians that you hear speak and that you hear talk and that you go, Jesus Christ, that person has some kind of unique insight

on the way things should go. Think about the last time you've been moved or you've heard a novel idea or you've heard something that actually gets through to a point or resolution that you hadn't considered before. That's not very often, right? Half the people can't even fucking talk, but they are incredibly cunning. They sense weakness.

They smell blood, and they are ready to grab power. And in a negotiation with people like that, tigers, lions, bears, you cannot be soft. Nothing you're saying is funny. It's just, it's hard to watch you in this hat and these glasses. And you're saying stuff that's so serious and so meaningful. But then I just take it off. Take off. One of the other's got to go.

Wrong. One's got to go, man. No. This is, this is, this is me. this might be Wanker Texas Ranger. You know what I like to do? Because I think it's kind of fly. I think it's kind of fly when you,

because even now, now I'm going to pull up the little hood thing. Okay, Biden's budget. Rachel, give us Biden's budget. Well, no, let me just say this. I, everything that you're saying is true. And we've touched on some of these things

on the podcast before. But when I was listening to you talk about you, you know, being cynical and then talking about grassroots, I think that there has to be, I think everybody should have both of that. Do you know what I mean? I don't think that we should for too long, and maybe it's always been this way, but it just seems louder. We looked at our politicians as if they were going to be

our saviors and save us from everything, right? They were going to fix everything. We believed everything that they said when they were campaigning. And then you come to realize that either they weren't truthful or they can't pass those things because there's the Congress that won't let them or it's just not a priority as it was to then when they were campaigning. So I think that you have to be cynical because you have to constantly hold them accountable, but then also be grassroots in doing things in your community. You can't do just one.

I think both have to happen. Anyways, Biden, budget. So, well, no. So your thoughts on Biden's budget. So he just released a day and you will budget. He's laying out the policy proposals that he's going to campaign on as he's leading up to this reelection

or seeks re-election, I should say, in November. So he laid this all out. For 2025, this is what he's proposing. Several different things. How many do we have? 19. I'm not going to name them all.

Name the ones that you feel like are the most impactful. Okay. Lowering drug prices, right? Yes. Cutting taxes for families and workers. Addressing the housing affordability crisis. That's huge right now. And that helps middle America a lot,

which I think is an interesting play as well as you're going up against Trump, who claims to be for the people, even though none of his policies are. Oh, excuse me. Raising taxes. What was that? Some of the pork coming up?

Raising taxes on the wealthy, increasing corporate taxes, reducing child care costs, advancing cancer research. I mean, there's a lot here that I think, reducing the cost of college. I'll just use those.

Those are, I think, to me, well, extending the Affordable Care Act, subsidies and coverage for children. I'm looking at the ones that can help the people that help fix the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Those, as I'm looking at this budget proposal, to me, are the ones that are most important.

Child care, being able to not be overwhelmed by debt when you come out of college. Getting people their starter homes and allowing them to have these tax credit and some of that money refundable. Affording medicine just so people can have a better, a healthier lifestyle. These are the things that I think are extremely important. And what, you know, we talk about that. What's resonating with the people?

What can people feel? These are things that I think people can actually feel if money is a, you know, implemented in this way. So the housing affordability crisis is really interesting. Two new tax credits for homeowners, $10,000 tax credit aimed at giving people to put their starter home on the market. You know what I mean?

So get into a new home. Then there's a refundable tax credit for middle class home buyers, interest rate buy down, that would help an estimated more than 3.5 million buyers close a deal on the, their first home over the next two years. So that's, that's important for two ways. Number one, I know realtors out here who are stuck in situations with the housing market because they can't

move homes in the same way they used to. That obviously affects them. And then home ownership is just such an important standard in American wealth that if people are buying less homes, renting more with rents growing up and siphoning off people's money, that if people are buying less homes, there's less of a foundation for the American economy and people are accessing American wealth more rarely if they don't have homes. If they don't have homes, homeownership is still one of the bedrocks of American financial solvency. So anything that directly addresses that is a good idea. Reducing the cost of college is fantastic. I'd also like to see some investment into trade school development. I'd also like to see some

education into some fiscal education around people's ability to make decisions about their future. I would like to see some type of initiative that helps kids in high school decide what the better option for them is. Remember there was this program. When we were in Baton Rouge, Marie was in this thing where you went and got a job for like three hours out of the day when you were a senior and it was for you got paid?

Yeah, you got paid, yeah. And it was for, she worked at a bank. And she was a teller at a bank when we were seniors. It was like a program you went, you got a job, you were three hours out of the day or whatever like that. You got paid, but it was also for school credit.

So lets people understand whether or not college and the loans that they're going to incur and all this. Remember, I'm for making college free for everyone. Fuck it. Let them pay. Because remember now, I was talking to a friend of mine that was like, he paid $7 million in taxes or something last year. And I was like, who was this friend?

Yeah, whatever. It paid $7 million in taxes, right? And you know what I said to them? I was like, you know what you probably did? You probably like bought a predator drunk. because that's that you know probably bought him a predator drunk so

what I would like to see is this money being used to invest into people so I would have no problem with the dismantling of the military industrial complex which by the way there's a fantastic documentary that everybody should be watching

on Netflix right now called the bomb and the Cold War and it goes back to the beginning beginnings of the Cold War and the rise of the military industrial complex and how we became a war machine by dumping all of our money into building bombs to fight an enemy that was formidable, but at times was actually invisible, right? And how those type of strategies into the investment and realignment of American wealth even permeate through today. Like it's still today the way we spend the amount of aircraft carriers we have, the amount of military might that we have, and all that stuff.

So anytime I see investing back into reducing the cost of college, I also think about investing money into different situations so that people can make decisions about their lives that involve college and that educate them in different ways. All right. Come out there. Maybe you want to be a mechanic. Maybe you'll want to do this. Maybe you want to do all kinds of situations that don't involve going to college.

and I want to see some of that stuff be invested into as well. Okay, cool. A lot of this stuff is all great. It's all good. Invest in nutrition assistance. Fantastic. I think these are things that when I think about specifically black people, because a lot of people are going to look on this and they're going to go,

they're going to go, what's in it for us? Well, I'm going to point out some things that are in for you. Number one, if you're food insecure, investing into nutrition assistance, that's going to help you out, right? If you're worried about your kids being on par, if we're worried about literacy rates. It's shown, studies show, that universal pre-K and head start, kids that are involved in pre-K and head start, fare way better educationally for the rest of their careers than kids who are not involved in that. So if that's more widely available to people, then that is something that seeks to even the playing field. When you look at some of this stuff, sometimes you have to look at what evens the playing field?

What addresses needs that most affect the blacks are community? If we're talking about food insecurity, we're talking about educational disparity, if we're talking about instability and health, things like that, this is a good. set of priorities. What I would like to see the Biden administration do when they put a budget like this out is make the choice binary. Okay, since we're all fucked into this binary choice between a government that they might be tepid or lukewarm on, fair or unfair, fair or unfair, okay, and we're up against the evil empire, then just make it binary. Go to war. Okay, this is what President Trump wants to do. His entire platform is based around revenge, domination, and subjugation of everyone who doesn't believe in the same America that he does. And on the economic side, he wants to enrich

the billionaires. He wants to involve us in trade wars. He wants all of this stuff. This is what he's into. All right? So I want to see people have the choice. And I want to see dollars and cents involved in this. This is what your life looks like under Joe Biden. And this is what your life will look like under Donald Trump. Well, oh, sorry. Well, no, I was just going to say, I think you're absolutely right. And it's something I've said in the beginning is that this contrast Trump's economic agenda because he's always trying to appeal to working class voters. And a lot of people who vote for him are. And I think that if you specifically show that these are policies that or a budget that I'm trying to propose and implement.

And this will directly help you versus what Trump is not doing, just what he's saying, or this is how Trump has specifically fought against this happening when he was in office. I think that hopefully, maybe that could be more meaningful. But I also think that you can't talk about this with also saying that Biden put this out. We're talking about how this list can help so many people if this money is, you know, if this budget was approved. Yet immediately, you have the other side tearing this down because all they're talking about is the amount of money that it's going to cost, even though Biden saying in his proposal that it will lower the deficit over 10 years, even though they'll initially start spending more money. If these things are implemented, the budget will be lowered.

But Congress is fighting this. And although he's proposing this, Congress as it stands, this is never going to get passed. So this is never going to happen. It won't. But here's the deal, though. Even to this, understand, this is not, everything that Joe Biden does now is going to be a part of campaigning. This isn't in and of itself a campaign document.

This is a governmental document. This is a document for the president's agenda. This is not a campaign document. But it is going to be seen as a list of priorities that encapsulated how Joe Biden looks at America and what we should be spending money on. So then the question is, how do you position thought like this

and potential action like this in opposition to people who you say are bad for the country? Now, if we're going to be cynical, let's get all the way cynical. Let's clearly tell people why. It's not use boogeyman. and let's clearly tell people why Donald Trump is going to ruin America.

Yes. I think there are these umbrella terms that don't resonate with people. Like what? Like Donald Trump is, like, it's the end of democracy. Gotcha. So, like, to people I talk to when you say it's the end of democracy, they go, how has democracy helped us? And there's two things that I can do.

number one I can spend an hour or two explaining to them how democracy has helped them because it has but I can't change the emotional connection to that they have to the feeling

that it has it. That they're poor and their father was poor if they knew him and their their mothers were poor and their grandmothers were poor and that no amount of voting has gotten them out of that.

Right. Now, that's not true because voting has gotten them into that situation because people that other people voted for, enacted policies that made it easier for them to be redlined out of their shit and all of that and all that, right? The power that was voted in is actually the power that is oppressive. them. And the only thing that you can really do is vote that power out. We can have those conversations and stuff like that. But just saying that democracy is an important enough thing

for them to fight for, it's not going to work for them because they don't really believe in it. And that's just a fact. What they believe in is things that they can touch and feel. Right. Right. Things that they can come to terms with. They believe in $5,000. They believe in $10,000. They believe in free. They believe in accessible. They believe in easier. They believe in fair. That's what they believe in.

And so that's how you got to talk to it. And maybe it's not their job to talk to it. Maybe it's my job and other people's jobs. Because I'm not an intellectual. I'm a talking head, nigga. Maybe it's our job to look at all of this stuff, synthesize all the information, and then say, hey, hey, this is how it's better.

I decided to get the hat-shaking. You know what I mean? Get the hat-shaking when you're talking to people. But I can tell you right now, there are a lot of people that are not at the end of their ropes with the Democrats or the Republicans. Just they think the Internet's going to save them and all that kind of dimension. But I looked at this list and this is a good, talk about this. This is America that I can get behind.

There are other things in here two that I think are very important. Restore funding to the IRS. You guys, if we're talking about waste and we're, We're talking about the way that the American elite cook the books as far as their taxes. If the IRS isn't funded, I've had tax problems before. I've had to pay my taxes. I went eight years while I'll pay my taxes one time. What?

What should you mean one time? I hope that was the only time, eight years? Well, look, let me tell how stupid I was. You just started paying taxes, didn't you? Let me take how stupid I was. So when I was working at TMZ, I thought, and this is how niggas get fucked up. Just be honest with you. When I was working at TMZ,

I got to be honest with you guys. In a lot of ways, I'm like a man child. They know. Like in a lot of ways, look, I love to read. I love to get new information.

I love to do all of this stuff. But like when it comes down to like getting a passport, it's hard for me to do it. It's hard for me to initiate. Do you ever feel that way? It's hard for me to start something. I think it's like a woman versus man thing. No,

You get confused when you travel and there's time changes. You don't want to book your flights. I feel like that's all of that is a lot for you. I get so excited to read and get new information and so excited to talk to people and learn their stories. But when it's time to like sit down and do like a regular thing. Yeah, it's like difficult. Everybody's like, I got it. It's hard for me.

I can't do it. it's tough. But, and so, you know, they were taking taxes out of my check at TMZ, so I thought, you know, it was all gravy. I thought they were taking taxes out of my state, federal tax, whatever, whatever. And so I remember, like, I was talking to one of the attorneys at TMZ one time, and it was like, I got to do my taxes. And I was like, people are there that got to do their taxes. Like, why would I have to, like, do my taxes when they're taking checks, they're taking the taxes out? And he looks at me, goes, Van, please.

tell me that you're filing the tax return every single year. And I'm like, no. And he was like, how long has it been? I was like, really, since I've been making money to them, I owed the government like $150,000. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And you fell under the radar.

I paid it. I mean, if you're telling the story, I know you did, but you flew under the radar. They weren't even concerned about you. It, I don't, they weren't fucking with me. They weren't coming for Wanker, Texas Ranger. And so I remember when I came back, when we got it done with all the tax people and stuff, I thought I was going to owe him maybe 15 grand.

They came back and they were like, okay, here's it. I was like, well, because you've been, there were penalties. There were penalties. Yeah. And the funny thing is they just want their money. Like they just go, like, you'll be like, all right, look.

I wonder how many people are paying the government. I really do. because you go to them and you go, look, I pay y'all, I'm going to pay you all 75 dollars a month. That's what I got. They go, okay, you do that for the next thousand years. And then they just want to get paid, but then after a while I just paid it all off. Anyway, so look, I say all that to say, despite my problems with the IRS, despite my problems with the IRS that are in the past, funding the IRS is very important because

you need to be able to catch rich assholes who are fucking over the tax code. And then the enforcement of the tax code needs to be implemented in such a way that we're not taking it out on the black farmer from South Houston who could use more fiscal knowledge that we're actually going at the people

who have the most incentive to not pay their fair share of taxes. I'm talking about corporations and the hyperwealthy. And one of the reasons why the right wants to defund the IRS is because they

work for the richest people who don't want to pay their taxes. All right. Off a bite. Let's get off of this dick. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection

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You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Okay. Whoa, a lot of talk. Have you seen this documentary quiet on the set, the dark side of kids TV. I have seen it. Four episodes.

I saw three. Did you watch it? I did watch it. You finished it? I finished it. I finished it. I got three out of the four. I,

this is tough because this is for kids. Wait, what is this Ashley? Actually just said a TikTok. Title, yeah. Title, yeah.

I'm actually, Hey, nigga, fuck Dan Snyder. All my niggins don't fuck with Dan Snyder. Hey, what's your niggins think of Dan Snyder? I don't. Nickelodeon's been investigating this nigga for years. Push the fucking button. Fuck Nickelodeon.

We niggilode. By I fuck with them. I actually might go out to the front of Nickelodeon and fuck with them. Are they still there? They probably are. People are in front of Nickelodeon. Oh, is that happening right now? Yeah, yeah.

I see this guy on Twitter. I'm up with this guy. But like it, people are out there right now because the quiet on the set, documentary was incredibly disturbing. Especially to be millennials. And I watched this.

Did you watch Nickelodeon? Not really. A nicolian kid. I watched the earlier Nickelodeon than you guys did. See, when all of this stuff started to come along, I was getting a little older. The Nickelodeon that I was watching was before. It was like

like, Hey dude. It was Double Dare with Mark Summers. You can't do that on television. Do you know that show? You can't do that on television?

No. Double Dare, yes. You can't do that on television was this show. I think it was a Canadian show. And we'll come on Nickelodeon and then whenever you said, it's where the slime came from.

Whenever you said, I don't know, they would slime. Oh. You said, I don't, like, if, like, we were talking to you said, I don't know, the slime would fall from the top. Like, you can't do that on television. Anyway, but go ahead. You watch this. No, I was just saying, it was very disturbing because I was more of a Disney kid, but I definitely watched a lot of these Nickelodeon shows.

And to know that all of this was going on behind the scenes. Just like, and it's just even a bigger topic, child actors, you watch stuff like this. And you almost feel like it should be illegal to be a child. actor. Because it's beyond, in this documentary, it goes beyond them talking about the sexual abuse and the pedophiles that were working on set. It talks about them being overworked. It talks about them being afraid to speak up on their behalf.

It talks about Dan Schneider, who was this, who was this untouchable person because of all that he was bringing to Nickelodeon and the success. But he was demeaning to women, and that's putting it nicely. he ran these crazy toxic works sets and environments and was a pervert. And this went on for decades with investigations. People were reporting this stuff happening and still nothing was being done because at the end of the day, it's all about the money. Yeah. So Dan Snyder is the guy that Rachel is talking about.

He was, I guess, the architect, the main producer. of the golden era of Nickelodeon kids television comes with all that, Drake and Bell, the Amanda Bind Show, both iterations of all that, et cetera, et cetera. And what you'd expect is that any situation where children are involved, that the content itself and the children themselves would be protected in a very specific way,

if you watch quiet on the set and you listen to the people talk, that was not happening at Nickelodeon. in any way. As a matter of fact, not only were the kids not protected, they were being asked to do things that were decidedly adult, that there were situations, that there was humor used, that was sexual in nature. You would see kids licking their feet, putting their feet in their mouth. One time they had Ariana Grande, grabbing a potato, and when she's grabbing the potato, talking about whether or not she could juice the potato. It's very suggestive.

She was a kid at the time. Dan Snyder at one point was in a hot tub with Amanda Bines. Now, they're not any specific allegations of sexual misconduct against Dan Snyder in the documentary from what I saw. What they do talk about is the treatment of the kids on set, the treatment of the staff, the writers on set, particularly the women's staff writers. One woman was asked,

to tell a story while she was bending over the desk and acting as if she was being sonomized. This is in a writer's in front of male writers, in front of other writers, in front of all kinds of people. One of the women sued Dan Snyder in 1999. After her first season, working on all that, she was told,

it's an interesting situation. She was brought in, her job was split with another woman rider, the writing team, which is against the regulation. Her salary was split. The money. That's right. The money was split with another woman right.

So the other woman rider left. And then they brought her back in for the second season of all that. They told her that she would be, she would work for 16 weeks. She would work for 27 weeks, but she would be paid for 16. She made it four days. She quit. She sued.

It's 1999. They settled. Everything was kept under wraps. Nickelodeon did an investigation. And Dad Snyder was allowed to continue to work. And he did work for Nickelodeon. His career soared. She never got to work again.

Never got to work again. I hope she got paid. Like he continued to work for them until 2018. Listen. Then we don't even get into the Drake Bell portion. If there's Drake Bell comes into the series around the third episode. And in the third episode of the series, it explains, was Drake Bell's relationship with a dialogue and acting coach named Brian Peck, who had

worked with other stars. They have him working with Leonardo DiCaprio. Before then, he sexually assaulted Drake Bell. And his relationship with him over the course of time that he was working for Nickelodeon, there was nobody that was asking any questions. There was nobody that was getting involved with how close he was getting to the young talent there. And by the time Drake Bell knew what was going on, he had been groomed, and then he had been taken advantage of it. And what he says happened to him was so ghastly, he didn't even want to

talk about it on camera. Now, we should say that Drake Bell himself got in some trouble not too long ago and was put on probation for inappropriate text messages that he sent to a minor. and he says that he almost killed himself over that. That is also addressed in the documentary. And to be honest with you, I can't see how you would watch something like this, knowing what happened to Amanda Binds, knowing what some of these kids went through,

knowing what some of these parents went through, knowing what some of these women went through. I mean, every single allegation, sexism, racism, unfairness, sexual misconduct. it seems like an unbelievably toxic and dangerous workplace. And it reaffirms almost all of the suspicions and the concerns that people have about not just young people working in Hollywood, but people working in Hollywood, period. It's disgusting.

Did you see Dan Schneider's reaction video? I didn't. I saw the headlines for it. I didn't get a chance to watch it. I know that he did two videos, right? So the first one, he's denying it. And then he comes out later and has more of an apologetic tone. So question, did the first video come out before the documentary?

And then the apology came after he saw the reaction to it. So there was some hubbub about this back in 2018, which is when people first started to, Dan Snyder got a lifetime achievement award in 2014. He got a lifetime achieving award in 2014. And after he got this lifetime achievement award, there was some hubbub about who he really was. People are like, I just let you know, this guy's a creep. He's not a good guy.

And clips of him and some of the situations that he was putting the young talent in started to make the rounds on Twitter and other places like that. And the conversation about whether or not he shouldn't have got this, especially during the Me Too movement and all of the reexamining. that went on around sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace.

He was part of that discussion a little while in a way. So in 2018, they cut ties with. And there was a reaction from him then. That was then.

Denied. Denied. Yes. These allegations and all of the stuff that you hear. It's not true. Blah, blah, blah.

I am not this person that people are saying I am. This is all here. I'm caught up in a witch hunt bottle of life. Whatever. After that, this comes out. And the interview that he does with the gentleman that interviews him, kind of a softball interview. Not kind of a softball interview.

It's an extremely softball interview that's up right now on Dan Snyder's YouTube. He admits to certain parts of this and defends himself on others. the easier parts of this are and this is the interesting thing here power and money in the way it can be corrosive it's easy to say in a situation like this hey there was some jokes told there was some conduct that I'm not proud of

that's his line his line is there were some jokes told, there was some conduct, there are some things done that I'm not proud of. That's his line. That's what Dan Snyder says. Right. I would have done it now.

I would have done it different. Now, their line is, you ruined my life. So let's look at it again. Okay? On the one side, dude that was in control that hired and fired and decided who got to be on TV and decided who got to be a star

whose family's lives got to be changed, all of that type of stuff like that. He says there are some jokes and some things that were done that I'm not proud of. There's some conduct that went on in the rioter's room that I'm not proud of and I'm sorry. They're saying you ruined my life. I never worked in entertainment again. I never felt safe again. I never felt worth it again. Like you took away my dream

with the fact that you were irresponsible, with the fact that you were sexes, with the fact that you were racist, with the fact that you didn't protect us. Yeah. What do you do? One guy apologizes for a million dollars, $2 million, $3 million home and says,

hey, I'm sorry that some people felt shitty. The other people are saying, hey, I had to do 14 years of therapy and I never got over this. But here's the thing, man. I don't expect Dan Shetner to do anything. He'd been investigated multiple times over a span of, what, three decades?

And nothing was done. The apology, the response, the frustrating thing to me was at the end of every single episode. There was a disclaimer. by the network that basically said, we take allegations seriously, we investigate on all things, and basically like we did our part.

That to me was equally, if not more disturbing, because you protected this guy. This guy, every box he checked with the inappropriate, with children, women, we even talked about how he was treating the black actors. And you protected him all in the name of success.

of money. That to me is the bigger conversation we should be talking about. And to your point earlier, this is what people think of when they think about the dark side of Hollywood. These are the things that people are scared of. I think another conversation would be the parents. We got to talk about the parents in this. We talked about me. We talked about this a little bit. We were talking about Michael Jackson. We were talking about those two guys that came forward and parents. A lot of times the parents weren't involved or they were just happy that, you know, their child was being able to pay for them or getting them out of a certain situation or their access to celebrity and fame. And they were sacrificing their children in the process. It's just there's so much here that it's not just Dan Schneider, even though I understand he was the one allowing this to happen, but a network, something bigger than him, a machine allowed him to do this.

So this is what I'm saying. You're definitely right. I look at it like this. Number one, I'm assuming that all of this stuff was SAG, I don't know, I guess kids can be in SAG, right? That's a thing, right? Kids can be in the street. They have to be.

So I personally think that there should be a separate organization set up. I know that there are compliance laws and stuff, but there should be a separate organization set up in Hollywood that just deals with potential sexual, psychological, and physical exploitation of children on set. So they have representation there.

I'm not talking, I'm talking about something funded by the, I'm talking about funded by the union, like an independent, and let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. Having children be responsible for the financial solvency

of adults is in it of itself a fucked situation. like it once an adult can demand that somebody that is relying on them for guidance

and all of that stuff once that person is I think about how many times my dad is like go down to the store and get some cigarettes

for me and go in that I buy the cigarettes you know like it's not responsible for me as a goddamn seven-year-old kid

to be taking money and walking down to the store and buying the cigarettes, but my dad is able to make me go buy, he was like, his relationship with me changed the minute he could ask me to go to the stove for him. This boy is useful. This boy can, you know what I mean?

Like, this boy can do stuff. I can ask this boy to go saddle my horse. I can ask this boy to go do some of that, right? But whatever, he was still taking care of me. He was still deciding what was appropriate for me based on, a caretaker's relationship and not me having to take care of him.

So he wasn't having to ask what was too much for me to do in order to keep the lights on. He wasn't having to ask what was too dangerous, what situations were too dangerous for me to be in in order for people to be able to go on vacation and my siblings to be able to go to college and the mortgage and all of that. That right there, that relationship, a child, being the breadwinner is inherently connected to the exploitation of children because most of us have to exploit ourselves in order to make money. Sure. Like most of us have to work hours that we don't want to work, do things that we don't want to do,

be places that we don't want to go and do stuff in order to make money. You have to take shit you don't want to take sometimes. Sometimes the freedom of not being able to do that is what we're all searching for. So when it's a kid, it's going to be exacerbated. So that right there is unnatural. It is unnatural for a kid to be the one who is making money for a family. It's never going to go right. It's not going to go right.

I think about people like Jason Weaver, and when Jason Weaver was talking about how smart his mom was with his career as a young age, that man is blessed. And he is one of the most well-adjusted, nicest, most responsible guys ever. Support Jason Weaver. I always say this. He's one of our legends. Okay. But he was blessed with a family that was able to do that. A lot of these people don't even have the world with all to do it.

They're afraid of it being turned off. Capitalism has us all in a not like that. So it would have to be somebody from outside of the situation that was making sure that these kids were safe. And we're making sure that they're not creeps and pedophiles that are on these sense. People talk about the pedophiles in Hollywood and the sexual explorers on Hollywood. And people are like, oh, my God, it's Q&N conspiracies and stuff like that. It's not all that. Some of that stuff is true.

It is. Like, some of that stuff is true. I don't know if it's like a cold of people that are drinking the blood of children. I wouldn't go that far. But the stuff that people are talking about, about sexual exploiters, about people that get young green people out here, use them up, like, like, fuck them wrong, and then to go back to Boise, Idaho,

that stuff is real. It's true. No, yeah, that's true. It's true. Which, which I never really understood. Ashley says fuck that stuff. I never, I never understood, I'm laughing at Ashley's message.

the emancipation of it all. And I was glad that this documentary explored that because I'll be honest, when I used to hear like kids wanted to be emancipated, I felt like they just wanted to be grown or maybe it was a little bit of a selfish act. But now I understand why they wanted to get free from their parents when they're subjected to this kind of setup.

Like it makes a lot of sense. And in the documentary they start naming, which I didn't even realize, all the celebrities, child actors who filed for emancipation and successfully won,

which means you really have to show you're in a fucked up situation, and you as a minor would do a better job taking care of yourself than your parents do

or your situation. Y'all need to go see this documentary. Watch the documentary, man. Eric eye opening. Watch the documentary and think of the kids. It's very upsetting.

It was upsetting to see Drake Bell tell his story. despite the things that he got himself into later. Yeah, it was upset to see the woman that was asked over, asked to bend over and act as if she was getting sodomized when she was telling the story to that room full of guys. She couldn't even recount it. She didn't even want to talk about it.

These are things that never leave you. The young black brother who was on the second season of all that who was then left after they made them wear a costume that basically had dicks all over it. It's just, it's a lot of, or the black man who messed up his relationship with his mother.

They kicked him off the show just because she was trying to protect him. Because she was trying to protect him. Yeah. It's a bullshit. It's All right. Surprise topic for Rachel. Okay. Ashley, play the Kyle Rittenhouse video that I showed.

He says, we shouldn't celebrate Juneteen. We shouldn't celebrate Martin Luther King Day. We should be working those days. It's called Katani Brown Jackson in a firm of action hire. He's Ted Alton nonsense about George Floyd and he said he'd be scared if a black pilot was on a plane. Does that not seem racist?

I don't know anything about that. They didn't answer. No, no, no. Does that seem racist? Is it a yes or no question, Kyle? After all the things I just told you, would you consider that hate speech? Deflection! So that was Kyle Rittenhouse

at the University of Memphis. Shout out to the kids out there. He was there Wednesday night. Mm-hmm. And he was speaking on behalf of Turning Point USA. The Turning Point USA event, Kyle Rinnhouse was speaking. He was asked about some of the statements made by the founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Curtin. You guys have heard some of those statements.

I can't do a better job than the young brother in that video did in pointing out those statements by Turning Point USA. Kyle Rittenhouse was then ushered off of the stage with his dog. Poor puppy. I was going to ask about the dog. He had a dog. Maybe emotional support puppy. I don't know. He was ushered off the stage.

And there were a protest outside. University of Memphis. I basically got Kyle Rittenhouse's speech there. Shut down. Rachel, your thoughts? I mean, it was incredible to see. People come and

together against something that is against them. I mean, looking at that audience, if I hadn't seen the turning point on the screen behind him, because I was like, why is he speaking to this black audience about these things? And then I see turning from like, oh, this is what the event was. It looks like everybody came out there to protest him being on campus and for what turning point represents. This is incredible to see.

This is the kind of stuff when people talk about. They're encouraged by the next generation and the young people. this man who took the microphone was prepared, well versed, educated on the things that were, that turning point represents specifically Charlie Kirk. And it was a great thing to say. Great.

Loved it. So I've seen a narrative out there about Kyle Reddance. And a narrative is that, I've seen a couple people say this. David Lucas, the comedian, that I don't know if you saw this, the comedian that got in trouble for, making fun

of George Floyd. What was he on? Was he on like Joe Rogan show doing it? Or was this the Mario Lopez one? No, no, no, no, no. He was doing his stand-up routine. Okay. Okay, then no, I have not seen this.

Yeah, so he got in trouble a little bit. He went on Willie D's podcast. Shout out to the OG, Willie G. Willie D. Down here in Houston. He was recently on No Jumper. I didn't watch it, but I watched a little bit of it. But he said,

I watched the whole thing He's got the clips channel And he said that I guess he's friends with Kyle Reddhouse He knows Kyle Reddhouse And he says that Carl Rittenhouse didn't kill any black people And I saw another guy

Black Republican guy Say that BLM is misguided by protesting Kyle Rittenhouse Because Kyle Rittenhouse didn't kill him black people But that BLM should be protesting

All the Black people that are killed Memphis. Memphis is a dangerous city Memphis is a dangerous city a lot of people down there working on getting things to be better in Memphis. Here's the thing now. A lot of people look at this

as number one, it's by the race of God that Kyle Redd House didn't kill any black people. Number one. Number two, he killed allies. Yeah. And people that believe in allyship think that the life of an ally, the life of somebody who puts it on the line

for you, who's out there marching and lockstep and accomplice that's trying to make the world better for you is worth remembering, protecting, and going to battle for as much as anything else. Somebody that took your side and a struggle for your life, a fellow compadry, a comrade, those lives that Carl Rittenhouse took. He didn't have to take them. Right. he was able to beat the American court system. Good for him.

That's the way that it works. But there's a social and cultural cost. And there should be, there should be a social and cultural cost for Kyle Rittenhouse for the rest of his life. Okay. He would presumably live a long life. He's a kid.

What is he, 21, 22, something like that, maybe even younger. I'm not sure. But for the rest of his life, Kyle Ridden House's life should be hell. It should be held for him to get a job. It should be hell for him to go to school. It should be held for him to buy a house.

There should be a social and cultural cost. When you, when a Kyle Ridden House is moving into your neighborhood, you should be able to ask, do I want to live next to a killer? when Kyle Rittenhouse is coming to your school you should be able to ask do I want to live next to a killer and an ideological killer somebody who harbors those beliefs this is all fair

shouldn't be easy for it shouldn't be and if Turning Point USA and other organizations like that are going to essentially sensationalize and glamorize the deaths of two people that were protesting killed by this dude, the rifle.

Then they should have their shit shout it down too. This is America. This is America. So how Red House goes to Memphis, protest him in Memphis. How is, Rinn House goes to Tallahassee? Protest him there. Baton Rouge. Protest him there.

Get off of your asses. If he comes here, I'll protest with you and I'll buy all the goddamn pizza. Wherever, like wherever he goes, there should be a, coordinated effort to make his life hard. He should have a hard life to make his life hard. And that's the power of solidarity. Sometimes solidarity is about not letting the motherfucker forget and reminding him that we ain't forgot. And if they won't hold you accountable, we will for as long as you breathe.

I thought this was great. It blessed my heart to see it. If anybody knows that young man that was speaking on that microphone, please tell him to hit me up. I got something for him. I got a little something for him. How is that sign? Who knows what I'm liable.

Who knows what I'm liable not to do? We're almost out of podcasts. Rachel, I feel different, man. Why? I do, man. I feel different. I feel like something good's about to happen. Oh, I like that.

I love that for you. Something great is going to happen for you. Do you feel that about me too? It's something great going to happen for me. Oh, I know it is. Because I know stuff you don't know. Oh, I love a surprise. I love a surprise.

Great things are going to happen for you, Van. Before we get out of here. Wanker, Texas Ranger. Waker, Texas Ranger. Oh, by the way, people called you out a little bit. For what? People are saying, as I named the 25 porch, They're saying, how did you know that none of them were white?

That was an edited clip. You said something. You said something before. And so that I knew that. Thank you. I think. She doth protest too much. All of you, by the way, all of you super, oh, we're so pure.

Van has a problem. No, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the people in the comments. Oh. Oh, my God. Van has a problem. man has an issue. You got an issue, big dog.

Big dog, you need help. Y'all think I don't know that? You think right now, you think right now, you, on Twitter, on Reddit on Facebook, you think that's the first time I ever heard that? Ian told me that

circa 2003. Ian goes, Ian goes, say, bro, I'm going to be honest with you, man. Ian knows. Ian goes, hey, bro, I'm be honest with you. bro. You live in here. It's cool. I go to use my computer just to send an email. As soon as I pick up and click the shit, it's going down on the computer.

He was like, these are the exact words. It's like, as soon as I picked this shit out, I click the shit, bro, is going down on the computer, bro. At least X out of the shit. He was like, what? You fall asleep right after? He was like, at least X out of this shit, bro. He was like, you all right, nigga? He was like, it's one thing to watch a flick every now and again, bro. But he's like, you all right, dog. Are you cool? I've been heard this. You can't shame me. It's a lifestyle for you for sure. Well, it was.

People were talking about the fact that I didn't name a lot of the new people. I could. I'm pretty, I could get to 100. But what I'm saying is you can't, I can't be shame. I can't be shame. So just save it. Save it. Save your judgment.

Can it. All right. Before we leave, Cowboy Carter. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Cream. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming.

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Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Beyonce. Beyonce. She came out with some limited artwork, Cowboy Carter. She also put out statement. I'm going to read Beyonce's statement right now.

This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcome. It was very clear that I wasn't. but because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives

educating on our musical history. He said that this is not necessarily a country album. that this is a Beyonce album. And people responded. Azalea Banks fucked over, Beyonce. I'm not going to read the whole thing. If you guys want to read it,

Azalea, who has never, ever, ever shot away from controversy or criticism, basically called bullshit on the whole thing. Erica Badu captured it. Surprising. Hmm. It's a Dallas girl.

then Erica Badu went on X and said to Jay Z Say something Jay You're going to let this woman and these bees Do this to me That's because of the reaction that she got Well she accused her stealing her style Oh wait

Erica Badu accused Beyonce of stealing her style Yes with her hair Her hair was braided in beads And some of the I'm not sure I guess in the root this announcement, Beyonce had like braided hair with beads, and Erica Badoo is basically saying she did it at first. But really Rick James did.

My fuck! He did. Look, we have to stop. We have to get over to you stole my style shit. I think so too. The internet is too big. The internet is too big. I'll tell you all right now, I want to shout out to Compton Cowboys.

Everybody talking about how good band looks, in the hat. Thank you. Everybody talking about the sunshades. This ain't nothing but some Randy Savvy. Shout out to Randy Savvy from the Compton Cowboys, one of the dopest artists, and we got to bring him on the podcast.

One of the dopest artists here in South Delhi. I've been knowing Randy for a long time. If I step out and people start saying, oh, Van, Van, Lathet, no. It's guys that been wearing cowboy hats and sunglasses and doing all of this stuff. You got to, we got to. got to be more cognizant of the fact that you weren't the first to do something.

You weren't the first to do it. You probably weren't the first. Now, I could see if somebody directly swaggerjacks you, like Christine Aguilera tried to do the Lady Gaga that time. That's one thing. But like, beads in your hair, I love Erica by then. Same. Love Eric about you.

At the forefront of the Neo Soul Revolution that took over music. But beans in your... It's just... It's almost like beef for no reason. I was surprised. I was surprised. I'm surprised at Erica by do? Yeah.

That's not... It's not Erica. I mean, I'm not used to her being like that. Azealia, now this was on par. It's like, just wait for it. Okay, you saw the album. What did you think? Beyonce on a horse in the red, white, and blue.

Holding a flag, but you can't see the full flag. It's faded into the dark. What you think about the cover? I mean, from half of it looks like it. The top half you can't see. So you can't see where the blue and the stars are. Which I think is purposeful.

But you don't know. Your brother's from Louisiana. Galveston. Well, I thought her mom was from Louisiana. I think she has Louisiana roots, but she grew up in Galveston. I think the people are, she's Creole. But she's from Galveston. I've read a time article today about it.

Interesting. I think Beyonce can make a country album, make a country album, do the goddamn country albums, like whatever. It's fine. The images looked fine. To me, the music will be what tells the tale. If the music is great, it's worth it. It's not publicity stunt.

The music will be what tells the tell to me. I don't really have much problem with the imagery. Do you, Rachel? No, I don't have a problem with the imagery, but I really didn't pay as much to it as I did the statement, which we don't normally get a lot from Beyonce. You know, she doesn't do interviews. you know, she did a documentary and that was a lot, but you don't get full statements.

You know, you might get a caption. So for her to pull back the curtain a little bit and be revealing about why she created this album, how many years it had been in the making, and what happened to her in the music industry, which you would never think would happen to Beyonce, no matter what genre she was in, and how that fueled her fire to tap into the history of country music, and that she wasn't going to allow people to dictate what she could and couldn't do with a genre of music that was originated by black people.

And I thought that that was pretty cool for her to talk about because I didn't know she had an experience when she did. Well, I'm assuming she... Lemonade and then she went to the CMAs and all of that stuff. Right, but I didn't know something happened.

I thought it was just talking shit. All of that stuff because, like, Daddy lessons, Beyonce got into country, and she made a better country song than anybody else could ever make. It was a great song. And then she went to this, she started,

you know, dabbling and people were like, oh, my God, that's not country. I mean, I was still at TMZ at this time, and I was like, y'all don't know shit.

We could, there's no, there's no such thing as a musical genre that exists here in America that black people cannot take part in. We invented American music. We, we invented it.

We invented it. we invented American music. There you go. You're welcome. I don't care if it's pop music. I don't care if it's fucking thrash, death metal. I don't care if it's goddamn boy bands. I don't give a fuck what it is. We invented it.

I have to invent something. We invented it. We invented American music. We invented a lot of things. Those things we don't get credit for either. We invented it. Whatever. do whatever we want. I'm going to put together

a different band. I'm going to put together a craft work sort of experimental, German, whatever type of thing. Whatever we want, whatever I want to do. I could do whatever music can say is black. Whatever the music I want to do and say is black is black. It's all black.

Everything, every American music form is black. Bluegrass black. Zidicoe black. Blues black. Jazz black. Rock black. Punk, black, all black. It's all black. We can do whatever. We don't even want hip hop no more. Y'all can have it. Black punk, black rock, black death metal, black country, black bluegrass. We're now hip hop you can have.

It's now time for us to go back and take back other stuff. Let Jack Harlow do his thing for three and to five years. On the backside of it, we will come back and we will reclaim hip hop, but you can have it now. We want country.

We want bluegrass. We want rock. We want the rest of pop. We want it all back. Ashley, play this clip real quick. Last quick, last one,

last thing real quick. I posted this video. And... Yeah. And look, this is another one of these things that like, like am I an asshole? So there was a situation in Chicago where an Uber driver picked up a young lady named Diamond. Okay.

And this Uber driver did not realize what he was getting himself into. Ashley played a clip. Now he's looking at him at the beginning. Yep. He's already knows something's up. He's already looking at all

disgust. Go, go, go. You're gonna shoot out the car. Shoot up the car. Yeah, go. What the fuck? What is that? What the fuck is that?

What the fuck was that? He just shot at the car. For what? Let me call to Pauli. Man, fuck this shit. Let me call the police study. Now he'll run it over those speedboats like that.

Man, this can't be real. This can't be a real video. First of all, let me tell you a couple of things that's funny about the video. First of all, everybody's okay. All right. If you watch the video, you can see the nigger that's shooting at the car. You can the girl's right. Yes.

Like, you can see it. Okay, ask you go back up. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, put a video back up. Go forward. full screen with it, Ash. Like, you can see the guy. Like, watch, watch. Go full screen with it. Like, look, okay. Now, watch, look at what my hand is. Look what my finger is. Okay. Look, look out the left, look over her right shoulder. I saw, I saw, I saw, I saw one person. Like, you saw, you saw the person running. So you can see it. Yes. Yes.

Man, how many, wait, truthfully, how many times did you watch the video? I watched it a million times. You know why? I watch it a million times because, first of all, this is not funny. Okay? Like, this is not funny. I just got to say this. This is bad.

Okay? This is like American dysfunction at his best. This dude being threatened on his job is not good. But there's something about what he says. That's something about what he says.

He says, man, fuck this shit. I'll put my hat on backwards. I'm sorry, a little minute. What did you have done? It's something about what he says. He says,

man, fuck this shit. This nigga's sick of this Uber shit, brother. He's like, he's like, he's like, he's right,

fuck this shit. Wait. He was suspicious from the get-go. The look of disgust on his face when she got in the car. He was already looking at her like, what the fuck is going on? First of all, that might be a ride in a place that he felt a little trepidation about picking somebody up. He accepted the ride, though.

He accepted the ride, but he was like, I don't know if I should go down here to do this. He's like, what the fuck? And then her lowdown ass, Diamond is all fucked up, man. Diamond either ran off on the plug. If this is real. which it might not be good. It might be a fucked up prank, right? But Diamond either ran off on a plug

or rob somebody or something. Diamond is fucked up. Fuck Diamond, man. I got to say fuck Diamond. That's fucked up, Diamond. You can't do that. That video was funny, though. I'm sorry.

We got to go. We got to help. I'm sorry, guys. If we can get him on, I would love to get him on. I would love to get him on. Oh, okay, look. Before we leave.

um uh canis-a-s-ohs-on breakfasts up today yes i saw some clips so uh we'll take a couple days to think about it maybe we'll react to that on on monday i mean she was she was on joe button too we didn't do we didn't do that didn't see it it was behind the paywall interesting yeah didn't see it

didn't see i haven't watched joe button in an incredibly long time but yeah didn't see it was behind the paywall uh but we will react if If anything of note comes out, we'll react to that on Monday. So we'll see what happens. All right, take the de caps off. We do not stop learning. I'm Van Lathen Jr.

And I'm Rachel in Lenton. Thank you. Thank you.