Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Digging Into Trump’s Indictment, and Melina Abdullah on "Cop City" in Atlanta

Episode Date: June 13, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay break down Donald Trump’s federal indictment for the mishandling of classified documents (18:27), before codirector of Black Lives Matter Grassroots Melina Abdullah joins the show to break down the "Stop Cop City" movement in Atlanta, G.A. (1:01:10). Plus, an incident at an airport calls the WNBA’s mode of transportation into question (1:15:43), and quick thoughts on the "Home Depot Girl" (1:28:36). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Melina Abdullah Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Heller is on. Is Ivan Lathan Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Um, what's wrong? Yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.

Okay, so it was a big weekend. We're beefing, guys. Just, just so young. Rachel's mad. Okay. It started off great. Weekend started off great. Um, Applebee's was a hit.

I like to say, what up to all the Thought Warriors. It came out to the Applebee's in Chatsworth. We got there at three. We left like 6.30. We went home. It was fun. Yeah, probably what? 10 or 15?

Something like that? Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. It was fun. One lady came all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Laura. She came out there.

Shout out to her. She came bearing gifts. She brought us gifts. So sweet. We ate apps. We drank. And it was fun. Sunday was everyday people.

I didn't go. Okay. Now look, Rachel, I would like to tell you something that I get really tired because of the whole blood sugar thing. And I just, I'm sorry. I worked out and did Applebee's on Saturday. I couldn't go. I am sorry, Rachel. You let me down.

No. I don't want to let you down. You let me down. I thought we were a team. I did not think Applebee's was happening, full disclosure, because the rum buckets were no more. And I was not going to drive. And I thought the whole thing was canceled. Rum buckets were a no-go, which was our whole purpose of going.

And so I was like, oh, we're not coming. And Van, I am in the bed. I was resting. I'm in the bed. Van FaceTime's me, which I thought about ignoring. But I didn't. Right. And shows me a room full or a table full of fault.

Warriors and he's like, everybody came and I was like, no, I didn't realize people were still coming. And I got dressed as fast as I could. I sped over there to come and be there for something that you spearheaded to support you and the thought warriors. So let's be honest, you, you did pre-flake. Because I thought it was done. That's not a fact. You did pre-flake. But I give you credit because you came. You came specifically after you saw that Laura came all the way from minutes, soda and then you came out there. And by the way, you got there pretty quick. Yes, yes.

Okay. So I would like to say this. Number one, I apologize. I was very tired. Number one, Kalika still came. Of course Kalika came. Yeah. Kalika came. Kalika came and Brian was there,

which I will say this. Had I known that Brian was going to be there. I told you Brian was coming. I didn't expect them to really show up. That's not an excuse. People thought warriors were coming up to me and they were like, We're going to let everyone know that Brian came out. They were literally coming up to me.

They were like, Brian's here. We can attest to the fact that Rachel, Rachel and Brian are together hanging out. You always do. They were funny. Thought Warriors were great coming up. It was such a good time. You let me know you're very L.A. How?

Because you didn't send a text, a phone call, nothing about the fact that you weren't coming. Kaliko was going to deliver the message. After she was, no, no, Brian was. He said to me at one point, she'd already told me you weren't coming. I couldn't break Brian's heart. I didn't tell him. This is bullshit.

Brian has left me in the lurch three or four times now. It's only right that it happens to him. And he said, is fan coming? Is he coming with the guys? He was referring to like Jomey, Steve. And I said,

I was like, Johnny Steve aren't coming. I was like, and I just like turned away because I didn't want to upset him even though I knew because Kalika told me. And as she was like, it's 50-50 on van, which I knew meant nothing. But you let me know your L.A. Because that's some L.A. shit that you did. They promised that they're going to come and support you. They are SVP. They send you messages about how

excited they are or they get on a podcast talking about, oh yeah, even 24 hours before he was at Applebee's telling people, oh, yeah, I've been everyday people before. Sure. you want to go, I can get you in. What happened to those poor thought warriors? They all plates too. None of them. I don't believe that. It's facts.

It's fast. I got the text messages. And they were like, I can't make it, I can't make it. So I'll say this. All right, number one, I accept this criticism wholeheartedly, but I will say this. This is the first time I've ever not been someplace with Rachel. I rarely ask.

But when you ask, I show up. You do. And so I will say that this was wrong. So you get one. This was wrong and it's on me. But I do need to be a little bit more. I need to pace myself because me and Kalika went out Friday night and then we went and then there was Applebee's and then Saturday.

And Sunday I had nothing. I appreciate you listening to your body. I just wish it wouldn't have been at my expense. Would you guys have fun at everyday people? You came in here with a hat on with the praying hands. Like that was going to do something and change my mind. I was trying to not make you upset. Let's sing Michael McDonald's together.

Downing us do. We had a good time. It was fantastic. Oh, you got that for it? We had so much fun. The energy was great, the atmosphere, the music, the Pete, it was such. The Beehive. I don't know where that's up.

It's downtown. It's an outdoor kind of event space. But just really cool. Just a really cool vibe. Kaleek and I did figure out a way that you could make this up to us. Okay, tell me. Usher tickets. Usher tickets.

In Vegas. You guys already went to see Usher? No, I went. Kalika hasn't. Wait. Wait, what? Kalika and I went to see Silk Sonic. Okay, you know, I'll do the Usher thing.

And I've picked out the specific section that I would like for us to sit in. I know exactly, I know exactly where we're sitting. Caliqa really wants to go. He really wants to go. And it's an amazing concert. When are you guys going to go? Like, I'll do it. Well, he ends in October.

Okay. So you're doing it in the fall? Yeah. One of the last shows. Is the vacation happening? We should tell the people about this. No, we don't need to tell. The vacation is happening.

But we don't need to tell people. You don't need to tell them where or when we're going. We don't need to tell them where, when, but we're going on vacation together. Well, I think, guys, after this weekend. See how things get overblown? I am unsure. This is the last. I really do feel bad.

Well, we had a good time. It was fun. Leika was on fire. She likes to dance. I was like, every time he was, I was like, go Leika, go Leka. She likes to dance. She likes to get it in. You know what?

I love, Kalika can get along with anybody. And so, you know, it was, there were new friends, old friends, but, you know, like, she had a good time. You know and old? We left. Like, some people she knew, some people she didn't. You couldn't tell. She was having a great time. I was having a good time.

hung out afterwards and yeah. Where'd y'all go after? I didn't go with them. Yeah, I heard they heard they went to some other spot and they had fun. Yeah, they had a good sign. I know. I did. I watched some episodes of Black Mirror.

It's dark. Let me tell you something. It doesn't come out to next week. I watch some screeners. It's not dark. It's darker than dark. The pandemic had an effect on Charlie and them. It's super dark. It's not Black Mirror.

is blackest night. I was about to go racist. But I was about to go racist. It's pretty dark. It's pretty dark. Well, the fact that I didn't lose my voice, I think shows that it was maintained fun. Did you drink?

Of course. What did you have? What did you drink? First, we had Class Aze Azul. Class Aux. I thought it was Casa. How you said? Class Aal.

It's Class Azou? How come niggas don't help me out? I thought it was Casa Azul. It said now, well, look, it says, it says, it does say Casa here. I'm not sure. It's Classay. It's Classay, because it says, it says, it says, C-A-A-A-A-A-A-Zoo is what it says. Oh, no, but you're right.

So it's Clase Azul. I don't know what it is. And then it says, it's Clase Azul. And then it's, but there's both. There's Casa Azul, and then there's Clase Azul. and then there's classet azou. Okay, but the pretty bottle one, the blue and white one,

is the, is classé azale. Okay, you're right. I thought, I've been asking niggas, I've been asking for that Casa Azul. They just let you slide. So this whole time, hold on for a second. See, people ain't shit.

So this whole time, I was like, yo man, y'all got that Casa Azul? The Casa Azul is something in, it's like spirits, it's in a can. They just want you. money, so they don't care how you pronounce it. But she's just going to say, because Kla-A-A-A-Zul is not cheap.

I mean, that's embarrassing, man. Hold on. Casa Azul is soda. It's tequila soda. I've never heard of it. It's not familiar to me. It's not familiar to me either, nigger. I never had it. Like, I never had it.

And even Google, by the way, let me say how fucked up Google is. Even Google knew that, because I put, Casa Azul, and they said including results for Classay Azou. So you're probably not alone. Or maybe everybody you're with just thinks it's Casa Azul as well. Well, we had that, and then we had Casamigos.

Casamigos. Diddy is suing. He's suing the liquor place because he feels like they promote Casa Amigos and they don't promote. His liquor. What did you call it? Casa amigos. No, Casa, what is it called? No, I'm questioning.

Casa. Is it Casa amigos? It's Casa amigos. But you were saying, you were saying Casa Amigos. Casa Amigos. Hold on. Casa, me, it's Casamigos. Does it mean friends?

Does it? Well, a group of friends started it, so probably. Okay, so it's Casamigos. It's Casa, it's not Casa Amigos. No. I shouldn't have said that. Anyway, so Diddy So they're all under the same

I don't think they are I think it's a merchant That is Maybe it's a merchant company Let's look up to see What's Diddy's tequila called? Avion But he also has

Is? Yeah, isn't it? Diddy is suing Diego Diageo Spirit's giant is racially discriminating against and neglecting his vodka and tequila brands. He says that the company is typecast his brands as urban

and other flavored, favorite, and favorite other celebrity brands such as George Clooney's Casamigos. Dalian, Dalian. Dalion is, yeah, Dalian is his tequila, you're right. And then his vodka, of course, is Surra. And he says that Diego sabotaged Dalian brand,

with shoddy packaging that made the product look cheap. So I don't know who Diego really is. Diego is, I guess, the fucking overpeople. Anyway. He's suing the co-owner of his tequila. The co-owner of his tequila. He owns to- Okay, so Diego is a British multinational

alcoholic beverage company, which is headquartered in London, England. It operates 132 sites around the world's, major distributor of scotch, whiskey, all kinds of stuff. Man, how much do you, look at this Diego situation. How much do you think Diego made in revenue in 2022 off selling liquor? 22. I'd say half a billion.

Okay. So I just want to, we're going to go, this, okay, so wait a second. Because wait a minute, just hold on for a second. Diego is Diego's a big deal So let's not So this is Diego's Stuff I'm not reading

All of these fucking things Bro because they got a lot of things on here But Diego has Crown Royal Oh wow It's got Sirrock Diego's got Bayleys It's got Pims It's got Casamigos

It's got aviation It's got Yeah Diego's got a lot of Diego Has I'm saying Diego But I'm almost

Certainly not pronouncing this right Yeah Chelsea just said that it's either, I think, Diageo or Diagia. Or Diageo. You were on a role today with the mispronunciation of these. That's a tough one, though. But what I'm saying is, once again, though, I said Diego like 15 times before somebody just jumped in.

I just now. Chelsea, how do you say it? How do you say it? How do you say it? And it better be right to. It's Diageo. Diageo. Thank you.

Okay, so thank you. You let me say Diego for like 10 minutes. Like, y'all, it's okay. It's all gravy. Now that I see the spelling, it's clearly not Diego. What is it? I mean, I'm so tired. Why?

You got a good night's sleep. We were the ones out partying. You got a good sleep. I don't want to shit. My blood sugar would be low because of the shit. Don't make me try to feel sorry for. I'm not trying to make you feel sorry. I'm just saying,

like, I remember to eat bananas before I work out or else a nigga hit the wall. So look, it's Diageo, okay? And their revenue is 22.24. I know what you did. I know how you got there. You just saw letters that could look like,

if you move them around, there is a Diego in there. Look at it real quick. It looks like Diego. I'm just saying, look at it real fast. And it looks like Diego. But did he suing them? How much, wait.

How much do they make? their revenue in in uh 222 was 22.4 billion dollars net income was 3.3 have you ever had day Leon? Uh, no, I have not. I've drank Sorok all the time.

I'm part of the problem. You've never had you. You're not supporting it. I don't drink that much tequila though. Oh. I've never, I've never had it before, but I've, I've drank enough Sorok to put this niggas fucking grandkids through school. Yeah.

You know what I'm back in the 20? It's like Sirrock. So here's the thing. I don't drink vodka anymore, but yes, in the 20s, I totally support. Here's the thing. There is, the only thing I don't understand about what Puff is talking about is that I get that Surac isn't just urban, you know, because when you look at Puff's lifestyle, Puff has a cosmopolitan worldwide lifestyle.

He has transcended any sort of shackles or definitions that anybody might put him. You can't just put Puff in Harlem. Puff is in Harlem, Paris, Milan. New Orleans, Miami, Morocco. It's a worldwide brand. This is facts. However, I drank Sirak because he said so.

And that's what the thing is. I don't know nothing about no liquor. I was just as I was an impressionable kid and Hove and then would be like, Armandale Vaca now. I go to liquor store like, say, y'all niggas got that Armandale.

They say Belvedere. It's like, oh shit. I see nothing. video. We all niggas got that Belvedere. We own that velvie. You know,

they hold up the moat. Oh my God. It's the Moe, baby. We pouring out Moe. I didn't save the three months for one bottle. You got that shit. So it's like,

it is, I get it. But like, it's not just that, but it is that. You know what I'm saying? It is that. You never drank a specific liquor

because you saw somebody like, telling you to drink the liquor. I would say that about Syrac. So I say absolutely different flavor. It was cool. You felt like you were one with Diddy drinking the Sarac. I'd say Sirrock.

I was a big crown drinker, though. Yeah, but that's different. Yeah. But the only other drink I would say was Ace of Spades. I always wanted to have Aces Spades. They never had it. It's so good. Really?

Everybody had A's of Spades. The rappers and stuff would talk about it. So it was like, oh, go to the club. I want a bottle of Ace of Spades on him. And you point to a guy and then he would buy it? Yeah, that's expensive. So then the guy would buy the Ace of Spades for you. Yeah.

Because it's a trade-off, right? Guys want pretty girls at their table. Oh, when you say it's a trade-off, just be at the table. Yeah, at the table. And y'all not tuning it up for the Ace of Spades. No. Okay. You're tuning up regardless.

Add it! Ow! All right, look. We got a big show. We have Malina Abdul. are joining us today from BLM grassroots. She is going to be talking to us about the efforts down in Atlanta and the stop cop city.

The federal indictment of Donald Trump, big deal. Brittany Griner, huge deal. Affirmative action. Huge deal. Home Depot girl. Not as big of a deal. Might talk about it, though. I need a baker.

Babyface. Might discuss it. Who knows? Lots of show on the other side of this break. Do not miss it. The playoffs are here. And you can predict the action all the way. way to the finals with Fandul predict.

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tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trimfairadio.com. All right. So while you were gone, we should do a segment call while you were gone, while we were gone, Donald Trump was indicted. Yeah. Federally indicted. Well, we got the news while we were on the podcast.

We didn't have the indictment. We didn't have the indictment. We just got the news that it was happening because he took to truth, social, to truth about it. He truth about it. But then the feds came out and they gave us more info on it. Now, this will come out on the Tuesday. Tuesday is the day that Donald Trump is expected to appear in a Miami courthouse. Before the judge, he faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.

Rachel, did you read the indictment? Did you not read all of it. I read the whole fucking thing. 45 pages. I read the indictment. Craziness. It's, here's the thing. We knew that this was coming.

Some things had leaked out, but I never thought it was this bad. I didn't expect it to be this detailed, and I didn't expect it to be this blatant in the way that Trump was behaving. I knew, and we all talked about it, if they were going to bring these charges against Donald Trump, we knew that they needed an airtight case. We knew that they were going to have to do their due diligence because they can't get this wrong. They just can't. I was not expecting this. Were you surprised by anything? Mr.

I read 45 pages. Did you... I was, I learned a lot. Legally. Not really. Not so much legally. I learned a lot, and that's why I think people were instructed

to read the indictment. I learned a lot about the nature of sensitive documents how they're classified, why they're classified, and what protecting the means to national security. The indictment wasn't just about Donald Trump and what he did wrong. The indictment also did a good job at laying out the specific danger of having some of these documents and having some of these this information be out there.

And it, uh, it, and I don't know, you can tell me knowing the law better in an indictment, typically do they go through, is there a portion of it where they explain to you the severity of things? Oh, normally. Okay, cool. So like what is, so normally an indictment, this is the first indictment I've ever read in full. So normally an indictment do they, because this is almost read like a story. Yeah.

They set it up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. They don't, it doesn't just list out the charges. Like they, it's going to explain how you got there. Yeah. And the, and the why of this is happening. Um, yeah.

And look, I think for any of them, any people, Jack Smith, he, who is the, the special council here, instructed people to read the indictment because the indictment tells the full story and answers a lot of questions that people are asking and probably clears up a lot of narratives. If you read the indictment here, and we're going to do our best to kind of get people familiar with it, but if you read the indictment here, and the cases against Trump and one of his aides, it's incredibly difficult to bring up Mike Pence having classified documents or Joe Biden having classified documents. Now, I will say this. Joe Biden is under investigation in for having classified documents at a personal residence of this. And we don't know what was in those

documents and we don't know what that investigation will show. So not like he's skating for anything like that. That is under investigation. But the big takeaway here is intent. Intent, not just in terms of intent to hide, but intentionally showing the documents, intentionally deceiving the Justice Department, and intentionally storing them. So you had Trump in this situation, the hiding of the documents, the hiding of the documents, the showing of the documents and the storing of the documents.

There were two different places, Bedminster up there in New Jersey, and then Mar-a-Lago, which is obviously down in Palm Beach. And there was a tremendous amount of coordination between those two sites about Trump's boxes and everything that he wanted. And if the indictment reads true, it's not just a conspiracy, it's an ecosystem of irresponsibility. an ecosystem of hubris, an ecosystem of arrogance that's breathtaking when you consider some of the things that were in some of these documents. It's also the intent to obstruct.

Like, as the part that I read, as you're reading it, and there are 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, the fact that he not only was deceiving people around him, but also even his own attorney, who they're using a lot of his notes to prove this case. And then a lot of people, of course, are like, okay, well, there's attorney-client privilege. Even Trump thought that. And he thought he could get away with so much because he thought he was protected under that privilege. But then there's the crime fraud exception, which shows that, and get this right, that allows prosecutors to work around that exception if you can show that whatever he was doing was to further a crime. So if you can demonstrate to a judge that a client

to a crime. Right. Like you were making the attorney do stuff or that type of communication or that action or the legal advice was to further a crime. Right. Which this,

and forgive me, I can't remember the attorney's name. Cochran, Cucks, something like that. Do you know? Cop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Dottie can you do that. Anyways, there are his notes that are really a lot of the basis of all of this. But the intent to, the intent to obstruct,

I think is what really separates him from a Biden or a Pence or whoever else. Like he was willfully trying to obstruct this investigation, willfully trying to not, you know, where they were willing to say, hey, we've got this. I'm turning this over to you. He was trying to hide it. And I think that's what separates him so much

when everyone's like, oh, well, this person had boxes and this person had it. Okay. And they gave them up as soon as they knew that they were in possession of it. but Trump did so much more with it. It's almost like it was a game to him. A lot of what Trump does and says, it's like he's playing president. That's what, or former president now,

but it was fun for him. It was something that he tried to do and he did it. And it's like a game. And even the way that he handled this classified information, it was like a game to him. The way he was, you know, like put this here and move this over there and they can't know this or, you know, look what I have and bring.

ragging about it in these certain circles, it was a game. That's how he's treated his entire presidency, maybe even lies. Right. So I think the obstruction part of it is the different part on the back end. And I agree. I don't know what's going to come out in either the investigation of the classified documents in Pence's place or in Biden's place. The customer, they have to look into it, right?

But I think it's all different because, I think Trump, the way that he handled the documents, as far as what I know, now we don't know the information about these other situations, but the way that he handled the documents is breathtaking. So these are the things I learned, okay? The documents ranged from top secret to confidential. I learned the difference and why something is top secret all the way to confidential. I do not know this.

Top secret info has the capability to do grave damage to national security. The different classifications are based on the amount of damage the secrets could do to national security. Top secret means the capability to do grave damage to national security. Secret info means the capability to do serious damage to national security. Confidential info means reasonable damage, okay? Trump, they searched two places. One was in his office, and then one was in the storage room. He had six top secret documents, okay?

18 marked secret and three marked controversial. In the storage room, he had 11 documents marked top secret, 36 marked secret, and 28 marked confidential. We're talking about our military capability. the capabilities of other countries, right? Like some of this stuff is, when you look into what the documents are, some of this is the U.S.'s ability to retaliate in this situation.

Other countries that are sponsoring state terror. These are documents that he had. Nuclear secrets, which I'm going to come back to specifically, count 19 against Trump. Count 19 is this. an undated document concerning nuclear weaponry of the United States, which had a secret, no foreign tag, which means it wasn't top secret, it was marked secret,

but it had a tag on it that said no foreign. No foreign means that no foreign national should be able to have that information. It's not the highest threshold of importance, but it's interesting because it relates to nuclear weapon capability, which means something that I don't think people are talking about. I'm not going to come back to it. do it now. Because count 19, that specific document that he has concerns nuclear weaponry in the United States, Trump cannot declassified. It has to be declassified by the Department of Energy.

The Department of Energy is the part of the government that is in charge of our nuclear arsenal and our nuclear weapons. So even though, even if Trump is saying right now that I can just wave my hand based upon how the government works and declassified documents. There is at least one document here that Trump had that cannot be declassified. Now, I tried to look it up. I don't know whether or not

the Energy Department had already declassified this information, but it was marked secret. So there's no reason to believe right now that it was declassified. But look, when you look at this stuff, obviously you guys have heard some of the details Donald Trump is reading these documents to people who are interviewing him.

He's showing them to people at Mara Lago. He's telling people, I could have declassified this when I was president, but I can't do it now, which seems to completely shoot holes in the whole I declassified him thing. You know, I know that his people are going to make their arguments, but this motherfucker is cooked well and that's the other side of it how cooked is he

knowing they filed this case in Florida they filed it in West Palm Beach and the judge that has the case was appointed by Trump and has done has already made a decision I'm not sure exactly what it was about but it was in regards to Trump

and the appeals court came down on her for it so like she's already shown her hand. And there are a lot of people are like, how did this happen? How did this happen? Why would they file it in Florida? Well, one of the reasons, and I'm going to assume one of the reasons that they filed it in Florida is because they didn't want to deal with, like they want to expedite this case. They've already talked about that. So the prosecution wants to expedite this case. One of the reasons that I believe that they filed it in Florida is because they knew that if they filed it somewhere else, that Donald Trump

would probably say, you know, like, I'm not going to get a fair trial. or, you know, like, he would try to challenge the jurisdiction of it. So I think that's, we was like, let's just get this done. We have a really strong case. But now it's with Cannon. And a lot of people are questioning what kind of power she has over the case and what this could possibly mean. She definitely has the power to delay the case. Which it'll be delayed anyway, probably because from what I've seen,

the power to speed the case up is more in the hands of the defense. So if Donald Trump wanted to speed the case up, they could probably speed the case up. But it really doesn't matter because this stuff would, if you go as fast as you can, you probably wouldn't get him in a courtroom before next summer. And that's during the conventions and all of that stuff. This is going to play out while Donald Trump is in the throes of a presidential campaign.

unless a deal is made that says he'd take a plea if he never runs for public office again. And that would have to come from Trump's people. Obviously, if that comes from the other side, then it looks incredibly on tour because now you look like your sole purpose is to get him out of political life. I'll say this.

I don't know what's going to happen with Alan Bragg's case. I don't know what's going to happen in Atlanta or any other 15 million places that Donald Trump is it will be under indictment, right? Where he's in trouble. I can tell you one thing right now. I'm sure there are a lot of reasonably minded people that see this,

because I saw Stephen A. Smith say this, that see this as Biden using his justice department to cut Trump's legs off. I'm telling you, the more you know about this, the less that's a concern. there has to be a clear precedent set here, in my opinion,

about the way these documents are handled, about the sincerity of keeping them safe. Like there's something called a skiff where documents are like this, or it's basically a secure room where documents like this are normally held. And Trump had nothing close to that. The Secret Service was around, but they weren't there guarding any of the stuff. And this is like,

and he was putting it out there in a way that's obviously criminal. And then, like to your point, when the National Archives realized that Donald Trump had this information, they asked for it back. They gave him a chance to give it back. None of this has to be happening. It would have been a news story rather than a prosecution. None of this has to be happening.

They asked for it back. They told him. if you don't give us the stuff back like we're asking you, we're going to kick it to DOJ. They said that. And he said, fuck it. He's talking with his lawyers. Hey, do we have to give it back?

What if we don't, what if we just don't play ball? It's obvious that Donald Trump thought, not only that he was above the law, that he was above any sort of responsibility to national security. And that to me is, that's a completely different situation than the documents themselves. That speaks to what and who he thinks he's accountable to,

which is obviously no one. No one. You're right. Everybody should read the indictment and they should understand. We don't have to. I'm just saying if you do. But no, but you're right because, you know, I didn't read it all, but I know it explains exactly how we got here and more than just some of the headlines

you're reading. and it's like, oh, he has these nuclear, some of the boxes contain nuclear programs and, you know, defense and weapon capabilities of the United States and other foreign countries as well. But if you add the way that they were classified, like you were describing, it even shows another side of it as well. I am, two things. One, how does, and I don't know if someone talks about this and I just misses, how was he able to leave with the boxes? He didn't leave in the middle of the night from the White House. Just took the stuff, the same way everybody else is.

But right, but my question is, is there no process of like, hey, your time is up? Or, you know, there's a new president elected. Like, there's the whole time. They're supposed to be. There's nobody watching the boxes that are taken out and said, hey, we need to go through those. That's the archives. The archives are supposed to. So what you're supposed to do is what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to send that stuff under the president.

Presidential Records Act, you're supposed to send that stuff. Those don't belong to any president. Right. They belong to the American people. What you're supposed to do is send that stuff to the archives. And the archives are supposed to look through it and be able to tell you what's okay, I guess, for you to have and what they need to archive. There's not anybody there doing it. That's what I'm saying.

So it's up to you to have in good faith to send the boxes over to look at it. Yes. So that process has to change, clearly. Perhaps. That seems like that would be very different. to change because remember until the person basically leaves office, they're still the president. Correct. But I'm just saying in light of where we are right now, it could have possibly been avoided. I know that that would be a lot. But I'm just saying there's nobody there to

regulate it. So you're really just going on the word. And when you have somebody like Donald Trump in the office, what does that word even mean? Second thing I was going to say is when I was talking about people reading the, reading the indictment and educating themselves on like what's happening. It's, most people won't read it, right? I mean, I don't read all of it. But do you find it interesting

or are you surprised that the other Republicans that are running for president back up what Trump's saying? Oh, they have no choice. I mean, they're, they, they, they have no choice. I mean, you're already running against them.

I know, but they, they, they don't have a choice. Trump has sold his deep state, deep state conspiracy fear to a degree. that for them to look at this and be halfway objective on it is political suicide. So they don't have a choice. So I expect them, here's the thing, though.

I expect them to do what they're doing. Here's the thing, though. They're going to look increasingly stupid. This is a watertight indictment. The government wins 96% of these. I would not be surprised. I would not be surprised if there's somebody in Donald Trump's ear right now

telling him to take a deal. Because they got him. They really do. Like, they got him. When you look at some of these documents, undated document concerning military capabilities of a foreign country in the United States. Like top secret, undated document concerning timeline and details of an attack in a foreign country. This is like goddamn Black Widow leaking all of the stuff to shield, leaking all of Shield's files at the end of Captain America, Winter Soldier.

Document dated August 29th concerning regional military activity of a foreign country, not just America, America and their neighbors. Let's talk about penalties real quick. All right. So I looked at some of the guidelines in terms of this. For the top secret information, the maximum on these counts rate on these counts, they're, I think 37 different counts. The maximum of these counts range from 20 years to three years. So some of them come with 20 years, some of them come with three years.

But the citizen guidelines for a first offender, obviously are not going to be that steep. But still, though, for the top secret information, the guideline range is 100. 168 months to 210 months. If he pled he'd get a three-point reduction, it would go down to around 121 to 151 months. The non-top secret stuff, the range, is normally around 97 to 121 months in terms of what he could get

if he was convicted on those counts. You're talking about some years in jail. And that's with him being the first time, it's not going to get 20 years in jail, but you're looking at a situation where he'd go to jail for eight or nine years, for sure, where he could get sentenced to 13, maybe get nine, maybe get seven.

Yeah. You're definitely looking at that for sure. The other person named in this indictment, Wal-Nata, who's an aide of Trump's, he may flip. Well, yes, go ahead. Sorry. And I'm saying, he could flip.

I'm not saying that he will flip. I'm saying that at a certain point, yeah. It might be worth his while to flip. If Walnada flips, I think Trump takes a deal. I could easily see him flipping. I could also see, because at first, before I was reading some of it, I was like, oh, I could see them trying to pin this all on, like him saying,

because the hardest thing that they're going to have to prove is the intent, right? But some of these things that we've seen come out or that are in the indictment of how he knew that it wasn't declassified, how he was showing it to people, like the way he was talking to other people shows that he had knowledge of it. So he was intentional in what he was doing in regards to these counts. I think that's going to be the uphill battle. but I thought what Trump, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to blame it all

on Nodda. He can't. He can't because you can prove intent based on what they have. No, he can't because they have, they have text messages and conversations. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But that was my thought at first before I got into this. I was like, oh, there's two people. They're going to try to get him to blame everything on him, but they can't.

That's how much evidence they have against Trump. Nada was essentially the guy who was coordinating with other. Trump employees to, A, move the boxes around, whether it be from Marlago to Bedminster, another place that Trump had his residence. And also, he was somebody that was in charge of choosing which boxes to send back to the archives and which boxes to send to the DOJ. When they, he's also got to count against him for lying to the FBI because when they

interviewed him, he just straight up fucking lied. And he didn't know that they had him dead to run. rights. He just lied. They asked him several different questions. Actually, it's unclear to me whether or not they knew at that point that he was lying. But once they finished their investigation, they were able to ascertain it. Almost everything he said when he spoke to the FBI wasn't true because now they have the full indictment. I will say two other things. Number one, there is going to be a protest at the Miami courts when Trump is before the judge. And there's something else that just popped up in my head. There's

one way that Donald Trump can avoid prosecution for all of this. Now, he can be elected president. If Donald Trump is elected president, he can't be prosecuted for this stuff. I should not be right.

Facts. No, I believe you. I'm just saying. If Donald Trump is elected president, he cannot be prosecuted for this stuff. So I'm telling you guys right now, if Donald Trump is in fact the nominee, if he is in fact, the guy that the Republicans nominate for the general election, you are going to see the most bitter and bloody battle for the White House that you've ever seen.

Every single person that went ahead and did their constitutional duty to certify in 2020, even the Mike Pence types that did all of that on the right, they're going to be under extreme pressure not to do it if people think that it's either Donald Trump elected president or Donald Trump going to jail. That bitter war is going to play out in the summer and the fall of 2024. And unless something crazy happens before then, unless they buckle under the pressure, that's his only saving grace. Now, that wouldn't stop him from being necessarily prosecuted after, but once he's president, he could do all kinds of stuff, right? He's got the full power of the office.

But if his only saving grace is being elected president, the battle for the White House will be a battle for Donald Trump's life, and you're going to see some scary times in the mirror. Everybody that went, no, we still got a certified, no, we still got to do this. Now they're going to be under pressure from their people to go, no, if you guys go through with this, then Donald Trump goes to jail. Because if you lose this, he's going to jail. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech.

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Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit Trimfair Radio.com. All right. Discrimination. Okay. So we talked to you guys a little bit about the fact that affirmative action is, it's going to be decided by the Supreme Court.

I know that I'm very optimistic that they'll do the right thing. The court will do the right thing. There was a case or a person, should I say, the name is John Wayne. Be very smart kid, 18 years old. Did you see what John said on Fox News? I read the article. Read the article. John has a fantastic SAT score.

It does. 1590, 1600. And he says that his Asian American heritage has hurt him in his application process. He's applied to all different types of school, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, the Ivies, and all of this stuff. And he's not getting into these schools. And he is being made the face of what is essentially, a suit that is being brought by an organization called the students for fair admissions

that seeks to take away any considerations of race during the admission process in schools. I thought that this was interesting. We've talked about this before, but they, the Supreme Court is set to rule on this pretty soon, right? These things are coming out pretty soon. But they never really had a face to put to it before. There were people that were obviously named in the case because you have to have that in order to kind of get into the spring court.

They have. Oh, have they? Well, remember the girl from LSU? I do remember that. This to me seemed a little bit more pointed. This seemed to be a little bit more pointed. What do you think about this? When you read John's story, were you at all moved by the fact that he's such an accomplished student

and he's having trouble getting into some of these schools? I'm not moved by it. Well, right, on paper, I'm shocked. He didn't get into any of these schools. I'm not moved by it because his reasoning is that prior to, as he was applying, people that he talked to or counselors were like, listen, it's going to be harder for you to get in. And we're alluding to him, it was going to be because of affirmative action. And then he didn't get in.

And so in his mind, it's because of affirmative action. But one of the other things that they told him was that there were too many schools think that there are too many Asians on campus. on campus. So to me, there are holes in this to me, right? Like the Supreme Court's going to knock it down. But there are holes in this to me or get rid of it completely. Because, one, they don't feel quotas anymore. That's been done with since the 70s.

It's just about race being a consideration. Like they consider it among all these other things. If somebody is telling you that there's too many Asians on campus, That doesn't necessarily mean that, oh, am I saying this right? Sorry, I'm losing what you're thought. DeKal's kicking in. The Tequila's going back. They tell you there's too many Asians on campus.

That doesn't necessarily mean that there are, that is that because there's too many Asians, we have to let more black and brown people. Because what he doesn't consider are, okay, well, what about white students that are getting in that have lowers test scores and GPAs and users don't have as many extracurricular activities. Are you, how are you not considering that a part of it as well? You're saying you didn't get in because there were too many Asians. Well, what about nepotism? People who get in for nepotism, like to me, there's just like too many holes in this. He's describing discrimination against Asians in the administration office, but that doesn't necessarily mean that affirmative

action is the reason for the discrimination. Why isn't he going after, like I said, white people who have lower scores than he does? Why people who get in because of who they know? No. Yeah. So I don't know that he's necessarily going after anyone. He's bringing up black people because black people would be the only people that he feels like black and brown would be where race would be a consideration. Obviously, the two cases we're talking about here are students for fair admissions versus the president of Harvard and students for fair admissions versus the University of North Carolina. So here's the thing about John.

I don't even know. I think John probably believes what he's saying right now. Of course. He's worked very hard. And he's been told of this. So he's been told this. John is being used. Of course.

John is being used by one person in particular. This entire thing stems from what a lot of problems in America stem from, some white dude that didn't get his way. Edward Blum in 1990 ran for Congress and he lost. He thought that the district that he was, was running in was gerrymandered to empower blacks, African-Americans. He took it all the way to the Supreme Court in the case called Bush v. Vera and he won. Since then, Edward Blum has been a vicious warrior in what he thinks are race-based initiatives that exist in America.

He is behind the voting rights decision in 2013, Shelby County versus Holder. He was able to get Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act deemed unconstitutional, which is, of course, the part of it that says local governments are free. Local governments have to obtain federal preclearance before implementing any changes to their voting laws or practices. He founded students for fair admissions. He already took down voting rights, and he's coming after affirmative action as well. Edward Blum is an activist. He is a litigator, and he is an activist. And he is one specific person that was set on fire by a congressional run in 1990,

and has now made it his goal in life to roll back some of what I would say is the progress that has been made on these fronts racially from, you know, a couple of generations ago. This villain, excuse me, this story has a villain, and this is the guy. And all of this information is right out there. You can see he's behind the suits. He started students for fair admissions. And he looked for people who, I guess he thought, were worthy of having lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court.

He's been very successful in taking things to the Supreme Court, lawsuits that would go to the Supreme Court. and he was also very successful in making sure that these people weren't white. Because if you have, there's an underlying situation here. And this is for us and the AAPI people that love us and support us to talk about. When you have a group that's looked at as the model minority group, which would be Asian-Americans, what you have there is people who, a lot of Americans, Americans think have an unassailable culture.

They have a culture that prioritizes education. They have a culture that prioritizes working extremely hard. And so when you put them and make them their problems with getting into higher education, when you make that the crux of your argument, it's different than making a white person the crux of your argument. I agree with that. And so what is essentially happening, though, is what happens all the time. A white guy is saying, hey, here's an example of someone who, through a dedication to culture and a dedication to education, is able to achieve all of this stuff, a group who is able to achieve all of this stuff.

And so it shouldn't be a concern. It shouldn't be a concern. They came over here. Black people have been here. so it shouldn't be a concern. So I really looked into this. And I have a couple of little bones to pick here. Okay.

One is something that you already brought up. The white people? What percentage of admissions at private schools are, please do you like this? That's why I'll ask you. Ask a question a different way. In 2018, a survey of American college admissions officers revealed that they considered,

legacy as part of their admission standards. They consider legacy. What percentage of these admissions officers do you feel like considered legacy? This is to private schools and admitting kids to schools. 50%. 42. 42% of college admissions officers admitted that they think about legacy. So if we're talking about people who are unfairly at Ivy League schools,

there are a couple of places that you should start. One place that you should start are the peoples whose last name are Bush and Clinton and Gore that have been going to these same schools for three or four generations. By the way, these schools make absolutely no bones about the fact that they want these people at their schools because part of the economics of that school is having those names behind. them. So if we're going to talk about fair admissions, we have to talk about why somebody who is a legacy to a school is meaningful. And I'll make this corollary. Number one, having some, having a black kid at a Harvard or a Yale is very valuable to them for married reasons. It's valuable for what

they're doing on campus. It's valuable for optics. It's valuable for the culture of the campus, right? Right. All right. Having a legacy there is very, very valuable to the school for money, for status, for all of that. I guarantee you that you have to have better grades as the black kid than you do have, do you have to have as the Bush? Of course. I guarantee you. They're not taking slappy and sending them to Harvard because he's black. All right.

There's something else when I thought about when I thought about fair, the inequalities in education period. Mm-hmm. This is being done backwards. If we're talking about fair, why are we trying to fix it by the time somebody gets to college? If we're talking about fair, don't we need to talk about the fairness in terms of education that someone's getting in middle school, in elementary school, in high school, 2018 survey of American colleges, excuse me, the Brookings Institute says, that in contrast to European and Asian nations that fund schools centrally and equally, the wealthiest 10% of U.S. school districts

spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest 10%. They're being outspend. In most of the schools that you're talking about here, which, by the way, two-thirds of kids in America, black kids in America go to schools that are majority minority. two-thirds of black kids in America are going to schools that are will be considered to be black. And those schools are constantly underfunded, have teachers that are not as highly certified, don't get the tax money and all of that.

So when we're comparing the grades of somebody who is in the 12th grade or someone who is going to love for college, where we're going to try to get admitted to a college, we have to consider the socioeconomic status of that person. We have to consider what they've grown into because the entire time that they're in school, it's been unequal. So we're striving for equality. I would say to Edward Blum and to students for fair admissions, let's not start at the 12th grade. Let's start in the first grade. Let's make it equal from the jump. All of this information is out there.

There's a Cornell sociologist named Peter Rich who talked about the fact that in places where African-American students get equal access to certify teachers, to money, to things like that. The results are basically the same between them and their white counterparts. So this disparity exists

in such a grand way that all of this stuff is politics and coded racial activism. I feel sorry for John. because John doesn't understand how he's being used. And it's not even John's fault. Do you think John cares?

Well, the only thing that John cares about is getting into a good school. So the only thing that John cares about is what's going to happen to him after he's put the four years in that he's worked for. And I understand that. I don't think John cares about being the mascot for whatever this is. Because to be honest with you, he's 18 years old. And they're probably around him. people around him.

And there have been people, by the way, that have been parts of these cases that have come back and been like, yo, I felt like I was being used. Because what Bloom and Students for Fair Admissions are doing is they're trying to undo

progress that has been made. Now I'm telling them then we've had to do that. They don't. They don't have to do that. You don't like race-based stuff? That's fine. Don't wait until we get to freshmen in college to think about race-based inequality.

Let's start it when the kids are in the first grade. And if we do that, we won't have to have this conversation. But also, I have to just say, it's not race-based. Like, that's such a misconception. Quotas are illegal. That's been ruled out. And even in California, they got rid of affirmative action in public universities and have since come out and said,

they've seen less students of color attend their campuses or their schools. There are, the diversity is not the same since they did that. So it's proven out there when you take away affirmative action that you just don't have this diversity, which not isn't just about the way that things look. It's also about the culture that you bring to the campus. But I just have to keep saying race-based, it's not a thing. That's what they're putting out there. It is one of many factors.

And then it's like, where does it stop, though? Is legacy going to have to be something that they, removed. That's what I would say. So what they're not saying, they're saying that the suit is about race as a factor. They're allowed to have race as a factor. So what they're saying is take out race as a factor. Don't take race as a factor. All right. I would say don't take race as a factor. Don't take your last name as a factor. Yeah. Stop doing all of that stuff. Yeah. Because I can tell you right now, if they do it that way, George Bush is never going to year. So, so I'm just, I'm being for real. And there probably a lot of the people that are,

knows that. Yeah, and there are probably a lot of people that are like that. But what I'm saying is that when you look at this, the real underlying issues here are number one with a specific political activist and his goal to reshape America in the way that he thinks America should be. A white guy who thinks that considering race and socioeconomic status is unfair. however growing up in a place where you don't have books that are up to date, where you don't have certified teachers,

where the class sizes are too large, where it's underfunded. I read a story about a school in Detroit when I was looking all of this stuff up that had a word process in class with no word processors. They didn't have any word processors. a class that had a lab class with no lab tables. Like they don't have what they need. Whereas a school in another county had full computers and all of that kind of stuff.

This is county to county, city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood sometimes. So if anyone that wants to have a real conversation about inequality in terms of education, I welcome that conversation. But I think we're having it too late if we're starting in the 12th grade. All right. Let's take a break. and we'll get to Kent Powers. Let's take a break, and we're going to talk to,

on the other side of this break, we're going to talk to Melina Abdullah. So it's going to tell us why we need to stop Cop City. 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.

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So we told you guys that we would be talking a little bit about what was going on down in Georgia surrounding the Cop City Training Facility Initiative that's going on down there and the controversy that has arisen from it. this is a social, sociopolitical battle of the highest order. People have actually died down there over this proposed I guess training center

that's to be built down there. We haven't really covered it. And so we've brought in an expert to tell you about why cops and the city should be stopped and what the discourse over it is. We're about to talk to Melina Abdullah. she is a professor and the former chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University Los Angeles,

better known as UCLA, co-founder of the Los... Cal State, L.A. Oh, excuse me. Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. Better known as Cal State, L.A., co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and the Black Lives Matter grassroots, which she's also the co-director. She's also... Dan! A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated,

He's looking at me because I'm a Delta. We don't speak with. Oh, I thought you were with me. That's okay. Divine Nine. Exactly. Stop acting like it's all gravy. He was trying to create something. He's trying to be messy.

That's why he was looking over here. Stop acting like it's all good. I was on the campus. I know, whatever. You guys go ahead and do it. You outgrow all of that. Okay. Melina, thank you for joining us today, sister.

Why don't you give our audience a primer? Tell us what's going on down in Georgia and why they should care. Sure. As I jump into it, I want to encourage everybody to be following community movement builders, community movement builders down in Atlanta. They're leading the work along with my sister, friend, comrade, Puginajah. We got folks like Marcus Coleman, who are from Atlanta,

actually at the front of this work. So please follow them for up to the minute what's happening. basically what they're doing in Atlanta or attempting to do in Atlanta is turn over 350 acres of forest into a massive, what we're calling cop city. It's intentionally designed, specifically designed to train police on urban warfare and how to put down protests. So they are militarized. They are, you know, going to be doing everything from flasked. bang grenades, to learning how to use robot dogs, all kinds of things are planned for this massive training facility, which is actually designed not only for Atlanta police, but for police around the country to be brought in to really see black, brown, poor, and urban communities as military combatants, as enemy combatants. And so this is why there's a massive outcry to stop Cop City.

It is wrong on so many levels from environmental degradation to what's intended for community, to the misspending of money that could be used to solve the housing crisis that we have happening in Atlanta. So all of those things are reasons to stop Cop City. And now you mentioned at the start of the show that a beloved brother forest defender named Tortugita. He was actually murdered in his tent, in their tent. I'm sorry, in their tent with their hands up, murdered as they attempted to stop Cop City. We got over 40 folks who've been arrested.

The charges are everything from calling people terrorists, domestic terrorism charges to RICO charges. And those who then bailed them out are now being charged with RICO charges for bailing folks out for standing up for people. It's interesting because Atlanta has a black mayor. And he's said that this is a major milestone. And one of the things that I feel like they're trying to sell to the public is that this cop city is helping with police reform. Can you speak to why that's exactly not what's happening with the instant, like with them doing cop sitting? Sure. Well, one of my mentors and your sore roar and probably the best known economist in the world, Dr. Julian Malvo, she always says that budgets are moral documents, moral and ethical

documents in their zero-sum games. So when we think about what's happening, the spending of $67 million on Cop City, which is what was just approved on Tuesday, $67 million for Capp City. That means that's $67 million that they're spending on police, that they're not spending on housing, that they're not spending on mental health resources. So it's really important that we understand any time they talk about training space for police or more training for police, that's dollars that are going to police. that are better spent elsewhere.

Finally, we'll just say that when we talk about creating safety, we know that the safest communities are the ones with the most resources, not the most police. So being that this, there was a, if I, correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a city council vote on whether or not to approve the funding for Cop City, and I believe that it passed. So being that that's the case, where is the development, construction,

what is the future of Cop City lie right now? Is there still anything that can be done that can stop the construction of it and before it gets like fully operational? Yeah, well, let me just say unequivocally. No ground has been broken, right? We have not moved forward. They have not moved forward with building.

What we saw on Tuesday was shameful that after a thousand folks, at least a thousand folks packed Atlanta City Hall. After 15 hours of public comment with all but I only heard four people say they wanted Capp City, with hundreds and hundreds giving reasons not to build Capp City. The Atlanta City Council, by an 11 to four vote, voted to fund Capp City to the tune of $67 million. dollars. Those of us who came in from other places were called outside agitators. People like the son of Julian Bond, right, freedom fighter, civil rights leader Julian Bond. His son is on

that city council and he voted to spend money on cop city. We know that this is absolutely shameful and his father is probably turning over in his grave because we know Julian Bond stood up against police abuse. He was a freedom writer. who, like, faced police abuse himself, right? And so this is what we saw, but the game, it's not over. What they did is they won a piece. They won a vote. The police won that vote, but the people will win.

And what's happening now is we are now taking it to the people. It is going to be on the ballot. We're going to get it qualified to be a referendum on the ballot where Atlantins will get a chance to vote directly on whether or not they want a Cop City. We just need 75,000 signatures, and we can do that with our eyes closed. So there's going to be a referendum

that's moved by organizations like community movement builders. And then we're also pressuring Cadence Bank, which is the bank that would give the loan, not to give the loan for Cop City. It's a bad investment. It's a bad loan to make. And so we're not giving up.

We will win and we will stop Cop City. I feel like I haven't heard anything from Senator Warnock and I could be mistaken about that. Has he spoken out or in support of the people and against what Atlanta's trying to do? Look, that's something that's raised in public comment. We haven't heard from him or what's the... John Awesome.

John Awesome. What, we haven't heard from him or what's the other one? Yeah, John Awesome. Yeah. I started to say, Olaf. What is it? Awesome. They came asking for votes.

They got the votes and now they're quiet. There's a political class of black people who are in the pockets of police. And we got to say, look, you either on the side of the people or you're on the side of the police, right? Brad Hampton used to say it another way. I don't know how much I should say on here. Give it to us. So this is a direct quote from. Fred Hampton. You're either with the people or you're with the pig. Right. So one or the other,

and we know in the end, who he called the pig stole his life, right? So to be with the people means that you're spending on housing, you're spending on mental health resources, you're spending on after-school programs. And so if you ask the people to vote you in, you owe it to the people to do what's in their best interests and to do what they say they want you to do. And that is Stop Cop City. And no, we haven't heard from. either of those senators on this. All right. Last question I'll ask you.

And I don't want to shift the blame for Cop City from the people that are actually trying to construct Cop City and aid in the militarization of police all over the world. But I do want to maybe talk about another group of people in Atlanta. And there is a very influential and important celebrity class in Atlanta that normally gets involved in a lot of the issues that happen there. and we hear about Atlanta as, and this is not me throwing shade on Atlanta, it's a great city, about black mecca, Wakanda, all of that stuff. So it seems ironic that the cops are building their Pearl Empire, their Pearl Palace, in that city.

Have we heard from a lot of the outspoken black celebrities in Atlanta? Are they working with you guys on trying to amplify the message of stopping cops, city, do you feel like you need them more influential and notable voices to let people know what's going on? Who we need first and foremost is the people. Who we need first and foremost is mamas and babas and children and young people. We need them. And they are saying overwhelmingly stop Cop City.

I think it was yesterday, Jamal Bryant, Pastor Jamal Bryant of one of the large churches in Atlanta, if not the largest church in Atlanta, did preach on stopping Cop City. He did Instagram live on why we got to stop Cop City. And so we are encouraged by that, right? And in Black Lives Matter, we have a group of clergy who get down with us called clergy for Black Lives who feel summoned into this work. Unfortunately, some of the entertainment class need to be talked to, right? Some of these same entertainers. who were putting out justice albums in 2020 are now cozy and up to cops in 2023.

We need you to be with protecting Black life and pushing back on police who've never protected our interests, who were built as slave catchers, right? That's what they descend from. So that entertainment class needs to be courageous and needs to speak truth and needs to be moved by black people who need them to say Black Lives Matters, stop cop city now, just like they were saying in 2020.

Before you go, I know you mentioned people to follow, but how can we help from a distance so that this doesn't happen there and then into other major cities as well? So there's a huge convening happening in Atlanta, June 23rd to the 25th. We want everybody to go. If you can get there, please come. If you can't get to Atlanta, there's a petition online which will tweet out from BLM grassroots that is asking Cadence Bank not to give the loan for Cop City so you can sign that petition. And then we want you to donate.

It costs money, right? We were there for 15 hours Monday night into Tuesday. And so we needed money for pizza, right? We needed money for water. We needed money for child care. and to push this referendum is also going to take money. So please donate generously to community movement builders and the Atlanta Solidarity Fund,

that Atlanta Solidarity Fund, which is the group that is bailing people out when we get arrested for protests. Her name is Melina Abdullah. She does a lot of great work. It's my sister. We've known each other for a while now. we helped some people not make some bad decisions.

It was fun. She's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Skiwi. Yeah. Okay. So she is. Divine Nine. Yeah, Divine Nine, whatever.

Some people might call Rachel in the Turner Ivy. All right, look. Stop Cop City. You guys, Malina, we hope to have you back. It's been, I can't believe we haven't have you on the podcast, before now. You do so much amazing great work and you're such an amazing voice. We'll keep our eyes on this and we thank you for

educating this today, sister. Appreciate you. Thank you so much for having. No problem. Bye-bye. Bye. All right. Brittany Griner heckled and trolled. They were on a team flight. They were going to walk into the plane. It's crazy

wakadoo guy. I'm not going to mention his name. I think we talked about him before. Have we? He was the guy who went to the city council and was like rapping. about vaccines, yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize he was such a right-wing guy.

Yeah. Yeah, so he basically accosted her and harassed her and had to be forcibly removed from her area by his security. Did you see the video? I saw the video. It was disturbing. Like, poor Brittany. Like, she looked like she didn't know what to do.

I can't even imagine that. She's already going through a hard enough time, but then to be treated in that way in a public way is just, it's degrading. Question for you. Maybe think about something you said in the last podcast, that you had a thought about Saudi Arabia and WNBA? Yeah. Does that have anything to do with?

Not really. Okay, no matter. Yeah. Thought he's maybe charter flights or something that you were going to say. That's the thought. Okay, okay. I think the Saudis should buy the WNBA. Okay.

I'm being honest. Let me tell you why. What do you think about the discussion that What do you think about the discussion around the charter flights and the WNBA? What do you think about that discussion? I thought they already have them. Okay, so just to let you guys know if you're listening,

the WNBA does not have chartered flights. I really learned that through this story. Yeah, they don't have charter flights. I just assumed, right? We already know that they're not paid on the same level, but I assume that a basketball team walking, who they are popular, they're celebrities, their athletes, this happens for the men,

I just assume that the women took charter flights. So this was shocking for me to see. Do you think that they should have charter flights? Absolutely. Okay, he's smiling. It's more of two, they're on their way to play a game, getting in the right mindset, feeling comfortable, not feeling like they have to wait amongst all these people.

It's just like, in general, it just makes sense for them to have a charter plane. You don't? Okay. No, he doesn't. He's smiling. He doesn't. He doesn't.

He doesn't. I don't. I want to put some numbers out there. Okay. So NBA teams spend $3.3 million per team on charter flights. Okay. $3.3 million per team on charter flights. So altogether, the NBA spends around $90 million

bucks a year on charter flights. Okay. Can I just say something about? about those numbers. Go for it. They play how many games a year? They play way more games in the WNBA. So it would be cheaper.

Okay, we'll be cheaper. So Kathy Inglebert, who is the commissioner of the WNBA, look that up. It might be Englehart. Kathy Englebert, the commission of the WNBA, says that it will cost $20 million per year for the league to fly charter. $20 million a year for the league to fly charter. So it's $20 million bucks.

All right. the revenue of the men's game per year is $10 billion. So the $30 billion, so the $30 million that it would cost, that it costs the men to fly is 0.3% of the revenue of the league per year. The last year, league was revenue. The women, their revenue is $100 million, is $200 million. It's projected to be $200 million this year, which is going to be the best year that they've ever had. The women's game has grown so fast.

$200 million. $20 million is obviously 10% of that. The reality is they can't afford it. All right? So the reality is right now, most WNBA owners, when you really look into it, they're not making any money off their teams. They're not. they're not making any money off their teams. As a matter of fact, there's some owners that boast about the fact that their teams are worth $0.

Like the league is losing money. They're not making any money off their teams. So to ask those same owners to pay $20 million or to ask that you could ask the NBA to do it to pay $20 million. Okay. I want to say something and I don't want this to sound bad. But it is. It's charity. Yes.

If they give it to them, it is charity. And that's why I think the Saudis should buy the WNBA. I'll tell you why. Okay, I talked to Jamel Hill about this who says, I'm crazy. And she's not wrong because it is a crazy idea. And I'll tell you why it's a crazy idea. Number one, it's a crazy idea because the repressive attitudes towards women and gay people in Saudi Arabia makes this a match that is not meant for heaven. It's not a matchmate in heaven.

It's not. However, this is what I'll say. The Saudis now have LiveGolf partnering with the PGA, right? And yes, people are very upset. Very upset. They also have the WWE parts of it. And they got a lot of boxing coming through. The Saudis are making a play.

They have a whole national goal in the next 10 years of being into Western entertainment. Okay? to me, that means that they need to now be held, if they want to be a part of Western entertainment, they need to now be held to a different standard in terms of their society. Sure. Right now, if you have a situation in Saudi Arabia

that is a real international incident, especially involving someone, it's not citizen over there, it's going to be bad for any of the entities that they're doing business with, right? I personally think that what the WNBA needs is a cash infusion in promotion and lifestyle and accommodation, okay, to put the league in the next stratosphere of sports leagues.

Even if it's dirty, man. Here's a thing, though. This is what I'll say about what we're saying. The money is dirty no matter where it comes from. I'll say this. After Dobbs, I'll just be honest. after Dobbs, I really do think it's pretty rich for anybody from America

to criticize the way another nation treats their women. And I'm... I'm not mad at that. And so I really do think it's rich. Now, there are levels to this, obviously, guys, I'm not stupid. There's levels to this and start having to cover your head and having acid thrown in your face and all of that stuff.

What I do think, though, is if these other places around the country, country around the world, particularly places like Saudi Arabia, are going to be involved in Western entertainment. There's a tradeoff that could be made. And that tradeoff could be, okay, well, be in live golf, being people's living rooms with the WWE. But now there is an increased sort of scrutiny on how you treat people, minority people,

in your country, women, gay people, or whatever, and they would have to be followed through from the West and Western corporations that if they don't see a change in that, then they would pull out, all right? I personally think now it's more difficult for me, it's more difficult for me to care about anything other than how the ladies in the WNBA are actually being treated. because when I saw Liv Golf and the PGA come together, I'm like, the money's going to win.

So now it just depends on who's getting the money. People don't want the Saudi money. That's fine. I get it. But if we're really being real at this point, if we're really being real at this point, we're telling a lie to ourselves about American exceptionalism and American society if we think that we're in any position, and I'm not vouching for Saudi Arabia right here, or any place that's repressive.

but I'm saying for us to act like we are treating people any better in this country right now. We've just lost that. We can't do that. So the question is, now, how do you leverage money versus culture to get what it is that you want? And if you want these ladies treat it better,

and if you want these ladies with more cash in their league, you might have to partner up with somebody who's a little bit unsavory. A little bit. A lot. A little. Like the way the golf team up between the PGA and live, it doesn't affect, it wouldn't be the same,

have the same implications as it would for an all women's league to join with Saudi Arabia. It's because of the way women are treated in that country and because of the way the queer community is treated as well. I think what should happen. Very interesting point. At points, I think what should happen is that an airline should have seen what happened

and should come out and sponsor the WNBA. Free flights. Just charter a plane through Delta, American, whoever, eat spirit, whatever it may be, charter a plane for these teams and become an official sponsor for the WNBA. I don't think that that's asking too much to be able to do that.

Kathy Engelbert five days ago said the WNBA would consider were playing a game in Saudi Arabia. She's the commissioner of the W. Yes, no, I know. I mean, then fine. Go for it. Be bought. Everybody's bought.

Do you feel bought? Yeah, nigga. It's got paid the right place. But then she said three days ago, they're not going to pay. They're not going to play. Probably because of all the. The blowback. And look, and look, there's no way to minimize any country

that has like a poor human rights record. But what you have to, guys have to understand is this. If the NBA is helping and subsidizing the WNBA, you're already in bed with China. That's true. I mean, I'm just being for real now. Like, you're already, like, you're already...

I gave my suggestion. Like, you're already in bed with China. Like, it's, it's your, the NBA, LeBron James couldn't even say fuck China. Like, you're already in. bed with China. You already are. So I'm like, a lot of this stuff, I get that we're a certain way about it, but if the ladies want to,

the ladies could be flying fucking air Dubai, man, they could be like fucking in, you know what I'm saying? The nicest, they got the nicest plans. I, I'm just saying. I don't know. I wouldn't say that they're taking money from China. Like, listen, the NBA is definitely in bed with China. That's the NBA. I'm talking about the WNBA. The WNBA's money. The NBA's money is the WNBA. NBA's money. It's the same money. I'm just saying, you know, it's like, that's,

that's their decision how they got their money. We're just simply taking, we're just simply taking this 20 mil, just so we can fly without any type of disturbances. Jamel said that she was going to curse me out and that I was stupid. Not stupid. She would never say that, but that I was crazy. But I'm being for real. At this point, the mustard is off the hot dog. I mean, the way you're talking, I wouldn't be shocked if you move over there. And just swim in their money. Wait, wait, wait. I'm not fucking with them. But what's to stop you? I mean, this is just how things are.

Wait, wait, wait. I'm not fucking with them. I'm not fucking with them for all kinds of reasons. I'm not fucking with them. What if you found out that the money that you received is in some way tied to a country with poor human rights? What are you going to do? Like the United States of America?

What's you going to do? The only reason why we don't look at the United States of America is one of the countries with the worst human rights record is because of American propaganda. The United States of America has been kicking the same group of people in the ass since fucking 1619. The United States of America killed tens of millions of native people.

There's not a country in the world. I get it. But they don't see it here like that. Right. That's the issue. All right. That's it. We went deep today.

We're not going to talk about Home Depot, girl. I will say this. I just want to, I want to give a message to Home Depot girl real quick before we go. It's only going to get worse. What is? It, all this lady said was that people tell her she's too pretty to work at Home Depot. And she didn't say she was too pretty. I never heard her once say, I'm too pretty to work at Home Depot.

She must not be thinking that because she's been working there. Do old-ass men come in there and go, damn, you're too pretty to work at Home Depot? because they think that a pretty woman should be using sex to get ahead. Of course they do that. They do that to her. All she said was that. Just telling her right now, so be careful, man.

This shit going to get worse. They love you and then they hate you. That's the way it goes. Shout out to all the ladies working at Home Depot, man. Keep your head up. Well, she's not working there anymore. What happened? After posting a photo of herself because when she posted the photo,

she was in a Texas Roadhouse uniform. I guess they let her go. You lying. Donnie? No, I don't think they let her go. I think she quit her Home Depot job. She said she was getting doxed. So she went on to serve back to serving.

Hey, man, hold on real quick. We got to go. I need a 30 second clear out. You niggas got to find something to fucking do. You mean to tell me that this fucking girl had to leave her job? Like, you niggas really, I don't. know this woman. I don't want a motherfucking thing from this woman. I don't give a fuck really about anything to happen. You niggers got to find something to fucking do. I'm not even

fucking around right now. That's outrageous. She didn't say she was too pretty to work at the place. All she fucking said is that people tell her that. And guess what? That's the type of thing that you niggers would say. We'll walk up to her. Hey, where's the two by four is at? You know, you're way too damn pretty to be working at a Home Depot. You told her that. She posted her on the shit. She was wearing it. Nah, she ain't got no job.

He's done. I'm done. Y'all made Van upset. He's done. He's done. We're done. Take a thing else. Do not stop learning.

Leave people to fuck alone. I'm Van Lakin, Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, bye, bye, guys.