Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Remembering George Floyd, 1 Year Later

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay reflect on the year since the murder of George Floyd (16:02) and question the progress made since. Then, the NBA Playoffs are here and LeBron James plays by his own rules (27:56), while Dominique Wilkins has to play by the rules of a local Atlanta restaurant (37:27). Plus, Van and Rachel discuss the recent rise in anti-semitism (48:41), the new report on Wuhan scientists hospitalized in 2019 (1:02:36), and finally it’s time for Van’s Very Serious Question of the Week (1:18:24). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Our learning is on. It is I, Van Lathen. And it's me, Rachel Lindsay. Rachel. Van. How was your weekend?

Worked. Worked all weekend. Worked the Billboard Music Awards. First red carpet I could do without a mask. It was a lot of fun. Had a good time. I saw you hanging out with the baby. The baby.

Yeah, you were hanging out with the baby. Why did you say it like that? I was because he was a fun interview, but he was a lot. How was he a lot? He's just a lot. I got invited to the after party. Oh. I stayed at home.

Oh! I stayed at home. I was in a profession. I was in a place of business. Right. You know what I mean? It's not like I was out there. I was working, you know?

Professional place of business. Professional. Yeah, it's all professional. I went home. You know, you met my friend Ian. Did I ever tell you to rail? Player-proof? Yeah.

Yeah. Like we went to Radio Shack one time when Ian was there and he was working. So Ian worked at Radio Shack and he worked at Radio Shack and he, first of all, two things. Why is this funny? It was funny. Why am I laughing? It was funny because, you know, if we were all in college and Ian wasn't going to school at that point. And it's always like if you, it's.

If four the dudes and the crew don't have a job and then like one nigger has a job, he acts like his job is like the most important thing in the world. He acts like he. And why shouldn't he? Right? Because like every, we all talking about class and school. He's like, I got to get ready to go to work. You know, got to work.

So he worked at the singular kiosk at Radio Shack. And me and Ryan and Gino went over him over there just to like kind of talk to him. But when we started like, we were messing with the computers at Radio Shack, you know, those display computers. And we changed the screensavers to pictures of us rather than the Radio Shack logo. And then like, Ian could not figure out. None of us could figure out. Like, how to change them back.

Oh, my gosh. Did Ian have another day of employment after that? Ian comes over like, yo, he looks at us. He goes, yo. Yo, what's wrong with you niggas? It's like, this is why y'all niggas broke right now. It's why y'all broke right now. This is a professional place of business.

You can't come in here after the life. He was like, fuck you. You hourly ass, motherfucker. And we left. I don't know if you ever figured it out. He was so mad. He gets us out the Radio Shack. Did he continue working at Radio Shack after that?

Or did you get fired? He worked at Radio Shack, but then he worked at like other singular, like, you know, singular wireless. So he was in the mall? No, he worked. You said a kiosk. I know, but Radio Shack, inside of the Radio Shack, they had a singular wireless kiosk.

So inside of the Radio Shack, there was one point where you go to sign up for like singular wireless. And he worked there. He worked there. But he also, because he was a Radio Shack MVP, but he could step out of his comfort zone. And if you needed like a transistor radio or a CB,

he could also sell you that. So did his shirt say, was he dressed in red, like Radio Shack? Or was he dressed in a singular? He had the orange singular shirt. Orange, that's what it is. He had the orange singular shirt. But see if it wasn't popping at the singular and Radio Shack was like getting unruly with the customer of backup, he could come over there and give you some of that help over

in electronics as well. But you did not go to the baby's after party. The question is why not? For what? There was no after party. It was like, you can roll with, oh, you can roll with us if you want to. Are you saying that the baby shot his shot with Rachel Lindsay? He was, he was, I'm sure he did with every reporter that was on.

I said to ask you about every reporter. No, I don't think he shot his shot. The baby shot his shot with you is what you're saying. No, no, no, no, I didn't say that. I didn't say all that. I just think we were, you know, we were matching. He was just like, yeah. you know, I say how you're celebrating.

Talk about the after party. I ask you a question. Why are you not just running with it? You know what happened, man. Shout out to the baby. Because why? Why? Why?

You try to get me caught up in some mess. I do too. I'm a big fan. Yeah, but not a big enough fan to go. Because I'll be honest with you. We had the, we had the two distant strangers Oscar party.

Mm-hmm. And then we went to an after party. Yeah. And I was there. And you went. And I was there. So you went to the afterport, went to the, to the, the, uh, the macro after party. Shout out Charles King, macro, shout out of Rundee Gareth over at M88.

Is that who threw the party? It was macro. Yeah, it was macro. Because they did you to the Black Messiah. So it was their part. Okay. And you went to that, but you didn't go with the baby. What's the difference between going with, uh, to that party?

Because I would have gone by myself to the baby. So the baby's part or after party or whatever was going on. Right. I was rolling with friends. amongst people I trust. So let me ask you this. So let me ask you this. That's a great point.

Let's say that the baby asked you to come to the after party, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then you say to the baby, that's dope. Can I call my husband? And have him roll to the after party too.

I think he would have said, sure. Well, then I feel like you play Brian. you think the baby would have, you and Brian could have been hanging out with the baby last night. Maybe I didn't want to go to the after party. Maybe I didn't want to go, Van, just as simple as that. You back because I didn't call you to come? I wouldn't have gone. That's late.

That's late at night. Like, I am an, I'm, I'm an actual baby, meaning I need sleep. All right. I'm not, I'm not a baby rapper. Like, you see all of that? About 930, my body started going, what you doing? You know what the vibes are? up at like four in the morning.

You get up at weird hours. Yeah, I get up sometimes. Last night I had another vivid dream from the remoron. It was fantastic. From what? From the remoron, from the drug that I take to, you know, I had another vivid dream. It was so weird. I dreamt that I keep having these reoccurring dreams.

Anybody out there that's like a dream person? I have weird dreams too. I keep having this reoccurring dream that I don't have a career. The playoffs are here. predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner. Sign up and get a $25 bonus. Offered by Fandul prediction markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant, 18 plus.

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Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfair Radio.com. And this dream, I keep having, I keep having this recurrent dream. I'm serious. Like you don't have a career like you're still out here hustling or like you had it and it failed. How does this work? No, like I'm, I have a dream that I have significant strife over the fact that I don't know what I'm going to do. Okay. So yeah, no, I mean, I think you're, you subconsciously think about that.

Like you're worried about what's going to come next, which is a, I think a, of, I think a, of, of fear a lot of people have out here in Hollywood, right? Work isn't consistent. Yeah. You want me to be Joseph? You want me to interpret your dreams? Because remember, remember we were talking about one thing one time and I was like, oh, no, that third arm is because the vaccine.

You were scared of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Joseph, my son. Yeah, and for some reason, in this dream last night, I was in Philly. With, like, this guy used to play basketball with, and he was showing me around Philly. and then we were coming up, we were going up an escalator

and he was telling me that he would really like to date Italian girls but it's too hard. I don't know where this is coming from. I can't help you. We're going up to escalator. What you eat last night? We're going up to escalator

and he's like, I would really like to date Italian girls but it's too hard. And I'm like, for real, like why? And then he just moved on to something else. And then we were going up to the escalator and I was, he wasn't on the escalator anymore magically. And I all of a sudden was on the escalator.

But I realized, I was like, why is it taking so long to get to the top? And why am I so tired? And I realized that it wasn't an escalator. It was a slide. And I was running up it. Wow. I'm telling you. Tell you.

Do you never Google what this means in a dream? Because I have a reoccurring dream about tornadoes. What does that mean? Like I have these end of the world dreams. Like I'm. All right. trying to escape like the apocalypse and there's always a tornado that's involved. Right.

And a tornado means like things are in disarray. Like your life is chaotic and out of control. Right. Right. You should Google your dreams. I don't want to because I Google too many things already. And like if I Google something and I don't get the right kind of deal, it's going to really fuck with me.

So I don't think I want to. But it's interesting because last night, like I woke up with a song in my head and the song originated from the dream. and it was like a pop song and so then I wrote it down like you know I wrote it down anyway whatever you don't care an escalator represents a situation where every single thing is done for you

while you wait for it to happen someone may be carrying you through a situation or taking care of everything you need making progress with E going up an escalator symbolizes easy progress I mean I don't know that they'll have nothing to do with nothing really because we have a conversation before we got on the podcast

about progress. Oh wow. That's true. Thank you. Thank you. What did you get that from? DreamScape.com? Don't worry about it because you didn't want to Google it. I did it for you. I need to know if that's a reputable source. I'm your Joseph.

But it applies. Does it not? It applies. It does apply. It does apply. How do people learn how to read dreams? Like, you know, when they're in high school, they never tell you about those careers.

They say, hey, you could go and be an electrician or hey you could go to college and be i don't know a civil engineer a city planner they never say hey you know what you can get paid just for people to tell you their dreams and for you to spit some shit back out i don't think those do people like that exist i don't know if they're dream tellers i don't know if you can google you just look that up on that that's just a website but i'm just saying i don't think you can go like get a tarot card reading I don't think you can go to a dream teller. I guarantee you there's somebody who reads dreams for a living.

I guarantee you it's a profession. That's what I'm going to start telling these black children to do. That's what I'm going to start telling them to do. Hey, man, move out to L.A. You get a tie-dye shirt and tell these white people you can read their dreams. You're going straight to the top. You're going to the top. It's been an interesting weekend.

for me. It was very interesting. What happened? Good, bad? The cross door got towed. Because it died on you or because? Because of L parking tickets. Man, this baffles my mind how this happens to people. How? What do you mean? You don't pay your parking tickets?

Not really. I pay them once. I pay them when it gets like to the point to where you have to pay them. Not really. I'm really paying them. To where you don't have a car. Yeah. It's a fun adventure. You know. It's an unnecessary one.

I'll tell you something. There's nothing more exhilarating than going to the place where you parked your car. That is not true. Not having your car be there. That is not true. That is a terrifying. If you've ever had your car towed, it is the worst feeling to walk out. For me, it's the club.

To walk out the club in the middle of the night and you don't have a car. Yeah. Happened to me. and it's so funny because you know, you know where you parked, right? That's the thing that I like. I walk around the corner. I walked around the corner, right?

And I know where the cross tour is. I know that I parked right there. And the car is not there. So I know that no one stole the cross tour. Things have gotten desperate in America, but we're not to that point yet where people are stealing the 2010 Honda Cross Tour. It's dirty with the whole,

They haven't, they haven't whittled my way down, whittled their way down to my car yet. So I go there and, uh, a little colleague I go, yo, have you seen the cross door? Now here's the thing. How's she going to have seen it? It's my car. You know what I mean?

How's she going to have seen it? Like, have you seen the cross door? I'm like, no. She was like, well, I did see it earlier. And she says, it's right in the spot, basically the spot where I knew it was. Right. And she goes, uh, then I go, um, well, it's not there.

she was like do you have parking tickets? I was like, yes, she hung the phone up. I love her. She was, she was very helpful though. Seriously, I got off the phone, but she was very helpful. So what happened was we had to go to and this becomes a whole journey, right? Because not only was where their parking tickets, but the registration was expired as well on the cross store. Oh my gosh.

So we had to go to the DMV. and pay everything like $1,500 at the DMV. We had to go to the DMV and pay everything. Then we had to take that paper to the police station. Okay. Now when we got to the police station... I would have been so mad at you. When we got to the police station,

it turns out that there was a different paper that the people at the DMV were supposed to give us and they didn't give it to us. Oh, my gosh. So they were supposed to give us a paper that says, hey, we can release the car. But they didn't give us that to us. And so the people at the,

even though they could see that we pay, the people at the police stations, like, I can go back to the DMV. So I got an Uber and went home. Kalika went to the DMV. And then after we went to the DMV, we went and got the paper, went to the tow yard,

got the cross door, brought it back. And now I, then I had Saturday, I had to go get a smock check. Got the smock check. You didn't have that either? Didn't have a smock check. So Saturday I had to go get a smoke. small check and then now today or tomorrow we have to go to the DMV and get the sticker see I'm so paranoid about being pulled over that all of that would bother me also Kalika's a really

good woman because the moment that you had to go back to the DMV I would have uh told you to open up your phone app and and utilize Uber or Lyft for the remainder of the day that's a whole day that was wasted just because you can't pay your tickets online waste of a day how you waste a day there was a problem. Like that. There's a problem. It wasted her day because it wasn't her problem. It was yours.

Well, I'm not going to say what she would have been doing with her day. I would have to tell you that I didn't have much to do. To me, it was like a little treat, you know. It was like a little treat. You go down there. You see the police officer? You ask them what kind of side on there they're carrying? They ignored me.

In no way. Is this like a treat to you, but you had somebody else within your problem? Well, anyways, I'm glad you figured it out. I'm glad you took care of it. Make sure you do the same next year. I guess we will. Probably be back in the same situation. All right.

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Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need to be a disease. vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. Okay. We are taping this on May 24th, people know. But it'll be May 25th tomorrow and that is the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Anniversary seems like a weird term to use.

but, you know, it's been one year since the murder of George Floyd. I'm not going to go into a long soliloquy here. I'm just going to ask you, what are your thoughts coming up on one year on the murder of George Floyd? You took the words out of my mouth when you said using the word anniversary seems odd. It does because when you think of the word anniversary, you think of it more as a celebration. This is more remembering. and looking back over the last year to see how much we've progressed since the murder of George Floyd. And outside of raising awareness and having conversations and putting what's been happening to black people, brown people, people of color, at the hands of the police, on front page news, on your television screens, topic of conversation, leading in headlines in a way that it never has been before.

we're still in the same place when it comes to actually taking action. We're still begging for reform. We're still begging for a system to change that a system that hasn't been protecting us but has been hurting us, a system that's corrupt, a system that we fear. And it's really sad that a year later, we're still trying to get the Justice and Policing Act named after George Floyd to pass in Congress. We can't pass us, you know, like the things that they're asking for, in my opinion, are not that far-fetched. And the fact that that hasn't moved through Congress just shows that we're still back in the same place. We were a year ago. And to add to that, we're still dying at the hands of the police.

There's still a problem. The system's still a problem. And steps have been made, but more as far as discussion than actual action to fix the system. And it's sad to look back a year from now with all that momentum that happened with the protest with, as I said before when I was talking about this, how it was in the headlines and front page news. And it really seemed like, and there have been things that have been done, but it really just seemed like things were really going to take a turn where big changes were going to be made. And they haven't. Yeah. And so a couple of things.

And I'm looking something up right now. President Biden signed an anti-Asian hate crime bill recently. Okay. There is nothing that I like to see more than crimes against a specific group get dealt with at the legislative level. All right. Well, there are many things I like to see more. I like to see, you know, elephants and tigers. I like to watch stuff on TV and, you know, Marvel movies.

but I'm talking about in this particular process, I love to see that. I love to see that. The swiftness by which this came about is to me indicative of what can happen in D.C. when people agree. So there are people, of course, that voted against the bill, but it had bipartisan support for the most part.

There were a couple dozen Republicans that voted against it for whatever reason that they did, but the bill was passed. That's indicative of what happens when people agree on something. Yeah. We agree that violence against

Asians, the Asian brothers and sisters that we share our communities with is wrong and that it should be prosecuted in a very specific way and that it's something that has to be dealt with and stopped in America. it seems as if we don't agree that policing in America is out of control

and that the police are far too often inflicting damage and enacting the worst case scenario onto American citizens a lot of those American citizens that happen to look like us so while nobody in their right mind would look at a bill condemning Asian hate and be upset about it or have anything other than amazing feelings about it. What is interesting is that George Floyd died a year ago.

Since George Floyd had died, others have died. We've seen other videos of cops out of here. There's a situation down in Louisiana right now to where the police, it's a horrible situation surrounding the death. of a man named Ronald Green, uh, to where it looks like a full on cover up, a cover up in the Louisiana state troopers office.

It's, it looks absolutely terrible discussing. We're going to talk more about that on Thursday, but it seems like American consciousness has yet to agree that we have a problem with policing in this country. And it seems like that's trickling over into, given the politician, is a mandate to act on it.

So when I think about, you know, remembering George Floyd and remembering what's what his life meant, I want to remind people that what we're really talking about with George Floyd is not his life. We're talking about the end of his life. We're talking about what the end of his life meant. And George Floyd didn't want to be a martyr. George Floyd didn't want to be a symbol

George Floyd didn't want to be a rally and cry George Floyd just wanted to go to the store and go back home so you know murals are great action in behalf of somebody's name is great but he's gone forever

there's nothing that can undo that and you have to ask yourself you have to ask yourself If we're really taking into account what a human life means, when we're volleyballing these things around, like political topics and social topics, like what does it really mean to lose someone? And what does it mean to lose somebody over nothing?

And when you think about it in those terms, it gives you short patience with a lot of the sort of stuff that's happening, not just in D.C., but everywhere else. People talk about two sides to an argument, and there are two sides to an argument, but how long are we going to listen to the bullshit? Mm-hmm. I think that conversation is wrapping up.

So for me, you know, I don't think about George Floyd's death in its cultural significance. I think about the death of the human. And that changes my perspective a little bit because he died. He didn't die over anything. people can say now that he die for something maybe you could say that but it wasn't his choice yeah no no no no

not he died for something but I think it's also important to realize that George Floyd is one of many I mean almost 1,200 people were killed at the hands of the police in 2020 and that's just of what we know and black and brown people were disproportionate proportionally killed and don't even get to the statistics of how many of them were unarmed.

So it's it's it's what this day represents and what he and he is representative of a problem that exists in this country. And that's how I see it. And then it's just shameful that we are where we are a year later. Yeah. Now you're right. You're right. You're right.

Okay The rest of peace of George Floyd Had to make sure that we acknowledge that at the top of the show NBA playoffs are going on Did you get a chance to watch any of the games? I watched a couple of them Watch the Wizards I'm a big Russell Westbrook fan

You like them What else did I watch? I saw a little bit of the Lakers game Right Who else play? I think that was probably it Yeah Because you were busy

That I caught That I watched Those came on earlier Sunday. Yeah. Earlier Sunday. And then what time did you have to start doing all of this stuff for the, for the awards? I started getting hair and makeup by like 11. And what time were the awards?

They started at five. Okay. So you got hair and makeup at 11. You get made up and then Drake won, Drake one, right? Drake. Drake won. Drake was back there. His son was so cute.

We didn't get to interview him. He doesn't walk the red carpet. He doesn't talk. Yeah, Drake doesn't talk. But I got to say this. You know how I be talking about Drake, right? Yeah, you say negative things. Drake was very handsome backstage.

I looked at him and I was like, huh, okay, Drake, okay. Let me ask you a question. Okay. What if it would have been Drake? Same answer. Who invited you to the after party? Same answer. So you're telling me right now that if Drake invited you to an after party to the Billboard Awards that you wouldn't go?

Last night, that's just the mood that I was in. Maybe if he had tried me the night before, I would have been more in a mood to be like, hey can I bring some people with me let's go I went in the mood last night you weren't gonna go I wouldn't put it past me on another night try me another night just last night I went in the move is there anybody who last night could have gotten Rachel Lindsay to come to an after party of the Billboard music awards probably like sweetie doja cat what the fuck what what if the girls if the girls had asked me maybe Maybe I would have been like, oh, what are the, what are the ladies doing tonight? You're telling me that you would blow off an invite for Drake, but if Sweetie asked you to come. It's a different thing. I'm a married woman. It's a little different.

You're talking to a marriage. It's different. You know, like, it's a different vibe. Yes, it is. It's a different vibe. Like, it's easier for me. It's easier for me to be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to hang out with sweetie. Then it'd be like, well, you know, Drake, after these rumors, listen, we did a whole thing with Drake two weeks ago.

about him breaking things up. I don't want to be affiliated with that at the moment. It's not like Drake is not going to be at the soidi party. He's going to be there. He's popping up. You're just making up your own narrative at this point. Anyways, any party thrown by a woman whose waist is bigger than 35 inches,

Drake's going to be there. Drake has like a, he has a radar. Whose waist is bigger? You know how they do the little, no, not the waist. You said the hips. I know what you meant.

I meant the hips. What is that, what is that measure of? It's 34, 24. It's the waist and then it's the hips. Wait, 36, 24. And then like at the bottom is 36, 24. The hips.

But the hips is like the measurement. I'm trying to think what B. says in this song. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Anyway. So look, you know, Drake was somebody, somewhere else earlier in the week. He was hanging out with LBJ, Lebron James. The Lakers lost 90 to 99 to, to the Phoenix Suns they lost in Phoenix.

But a lot of people feel like LeBron shouldn't even be playing in the game because he apparently violated NBA virus protocols by going to a tequila party. He has a tequila line, a tequila brand coming out, and he went to a party for the tequila. It was the party of, guess all parties,

because it was the lineup there. It was Drake, Michael B. Jordan. uh, uh, uh, Damson, Kenya Bears. A lot of people were there.

I'm leaving people out. Oh, uh, shout out. I did not go. Lenny S was there. A lot of people were there. A lot of people were there. Uh,

and the NBA said this was a violation of the virus protocols. It is. And they did not suspend LeBron James for this. A lot of people are saying, hey, the double standard. Uh,

what do you think? I think the people are right. MBA has made a big deal about you following their COVID protocols. This clearly violates one of them for all of those who are wondering. One of the rules is that you're prohibited from going to live entertainment events or social gatherings with more than 15 people. I'm pretty sure that more than 15 people were at this party. You named half of them.

So LeBron is in clear violation of this And the fact that they aren't doing anything about it I just I mean if I'm LeBron at this point You know you can do whatever you want And if I'm another NBA player I'm breaking all the rules And I'm pointing right towards this Wait why you do that?

You're going to get suspended You're going to get suspended How do you think the Okay here's my thing how can the NBA move forward and justify now applying this same rule to the next one. I know what I know what Barclay said. I know we can all agree at this point. It's a double standard because LeBron got away with it.

But what happens to the next NBA player that violates this same rule? It already happened. Remember when, no, no, not before. Right. After. No, I know about the strip club and the wings and all that. But I'm talking about, but that was in the heat of it. That was before we had a vaccine.

You know, the NBA also has rules about like 80% of your team is vaccinated and certain things like that. particular to the team. Right. If now, since he's been able to get away with it, do you think, do you think they will apply it, as Charles Barkley said,

to some no-name player? You're getting suspended. Maybe they might sweep it under the rug if they can, but here's a deal. You just have a coach back in the day, baseball coach. And... You play baseball?

Oh, yeah, all my life. A baseball coach back in the day. and we had a guy that used to come from soccer because baseball and soccer they ran together in Louisiana. We had a guy that would come from soccer. And I remember he used to run over there and his bare feet, just put his cleats on and play.

Boy, this dude could play some baseball, man. Damn, he could really play. And coach would be like, we would look because sometimes we didn't even know if he was going to come to the game. But if he came to the game, he was in center field.

And I remember one time, one of my homies was like, he was literally just about to go out there and so we were warming up before we turned the lineup card in. He was literally just about to run out there and start shagging flies off

the fungo or whatever. And he runs out there. Coach sees Jeremy and he goes, hey, come on. And we were all laughing. Come in. Come on in. Come on in. Third in and I got you. Be ready to go. Be ready to go. I'll watch this person pout.

And I remember after the game, Coach Booger looked at us and he goes, listen. Coach who? Booker. This is the baseball coach. He looked at him. He said, he looks at him. He goes, listen, I'm going to treat you out fairly, but I'm not going to treat you out equally.

I'm going to treat you fairly now. This is not the same thing as LeBron. But not equally. It is exactly. No, because, oh boy, didn't violate any type of team rule. Clearly, it was that he played two sports. And when he was there, he had the starting position. LeBron broke the rules.

He is basically saying he is above all of this. But he didn't break the rules. Do you know why? Because there's a different. There's a different set of rules for him. Well, where's that written? Where is that written? That's so unfair.

It doesn't need to be. because it's obviously the fact. He didn't break the rules. It's so messed up. If I was a player, I would just have such a tough time with this. I'm sure they will. But if you're a player, by the way, you want LeBron James in the league. You want LeBron James to get, like, if you.

I don't think any Phoenix son is saying, I really wish LeBron James was in game one. I tell you, I think they do. I think everybody wants the league wants LeBron because I know why the league does. Watch, yeah. As a business, I get that. But I'm pretty sure Zevin Booker wasn't like, damn, I wish LeBron was playing. But the reality is, if anyone out there thinks that the league is going to suspend LeBron James before the playoffs because he went to a tequila party. He could have had his dick out of tequila party.

He was playing in game one. I just hate it. I just, it's so it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I'm being honest with you. I think we're too. I think we're too hooked on fairness. Okay, Coach Booker

I think we're hooked on I think we're hooked on fairness Like I think we're hooked on fairness I just if it's a team sport Why is one man above the team That's all I'm saying Sorry I just It was one game he would have set out

They lost anyway One game And honestly if he had set out of that game Think about the story They would have surrounded Sits out one game Comes back wins three games straight You know what I'm saying

They gotta spun this narrative to go a certain way. Yeah. I get it. I get it. But a lot of people are upset. Kind of things like move on. And by the way,

it's something else I'll say about sports. Is sports is the one place. Everybody to me has basic rights, right? And those basic rights are unassailable. Like you have basic rights. Anything that threatens those basic rights is, to me, it's injustice. it's evil, it's corrupt, it's whatever.

We all have basic rights. We should all fight for basic rights. Here's the thing about sports is that fairness gets like it's a tough sled in sports fairness. It's a hard concept because it's also not fair that LeBron

compromises like 30% of a team's offense. It's also not fair that he is two, three, four times more popular than some of these other guys five times, ten times that he is a singular. None of that's fair, but in sports, in competitive sports, it's just the way that it is. And so the reality is that in anything where one person has so much more worth, like so much more worth than other people, right?

Is it fair that you can't prosecute the president? Their citizens just like any, like they break the law. Is it fair that you can't? The president is just so much more important. You can. People get impeached. Yeah. That's a long process.

Okay, but it's, but it can happen. You're saying like it can never happen. But what I'm telling you is that the degree to which a regular person, okay, can do something. You're losing this one. This is a fact. Like, okay, you can't just go and arrest the president.

No, you can't. Right. And what I'm saying is that has to do it. But you're moving away from the LeBron thing. You're right. It's not fair that he is more talented than the average player. But that doesn't mean that because he's got more talent and more super startup and more celebrity status than the next player, that things don't apply to him.

The rules are in place for a reason. You're right. It shouldn't be that way. especially this rule because this rule is about actually keeping people safe. And he can't even answer a direct question on the vaccine and things like that. I don't think he should have to answer that question. I don't think he should either. But I'm just saying because the rule is in place, because I'm saying about health and safety,

he doesn't answer those questions directly. I agree. He shouldn't. It's just so funny. I just like to see that type of hypocrisy out there. Let's suspend LeBron. Fucking suspend him. You're not going to do it.

And then we argue about why. Oh, in the world of basketball. Dominique Wilkins, the human highlight film. Neek. Neek. Dominique Wilkins, the human highlight film, apparently was treated poorly at a restaurant down in Atlanta. Now, I want to make sure that I get the restaurant's name correct, because they get there, they get to have their time and the shame spotlight.

It's crazy. Because when I just clicked on this in the higher learning rundown situation, the story that came up is Nick Cannon allegedly expecting child with wild and out model. Like, by the way, we haven't talked about that. What, what, what, what's, are you, are you shaming Trudy for having the wrong link under something? What are you doing? I'm saying that maybe God wanted that topic in the discussion. I'm pretty sure he did not. Uh, shout out to Nick Cannon.

Nick Cannon is out here putting in work. Like Nick Cannon out here, nothing. And it's just happening. It's like, look, people want it. So anyway, Dominique Wilkins went to Le Bibbiboket, Bilboquet. Shit. You might as well have not even tried to look up saying the name correctly.

It's a little bit of. Okay. Messed it up anyway. How do you say it? Look at it. We need somebody French to a French thought word to tell me how to say it's LeBille Bouquet in Buckhead. He went to this place in Buckhead and he says he was discriminated against and turned away.

This got Atlanta all riled up. Buckhead is a suburb of Atlanta. I don't think it's inside of Atlanta proper, right? But it's right there. Yeah, you know, like Atlanta proper is just small. Buckhead's right there. Yeah, Buckhead. It's funny because they had the...

I think Buckhead is in Atlanta proper. When they had the... when they had the bankhead bounce, remember that? Oh, yeah. It's bank hit. I remember one time I was like, I was talking to one of my home girls from Atlanta. I was like,

I said, y'all be up there doing the buckhead bounce or whatever. She goes, don't ever confuse bankhead. Two different places. And Buckhead. Night and day. Don't ever confuse bankhead and buckhead. Um, yes.

So Dominic Wilkins said that he had never felt prejudice. for the color of his skin. He's in his 50s, maybe early 60s. He's good for you, Neek. But he says he was turned away from La Bilboquet, LaBille Bouquet restaurant in Atlanta. I have no clue.

The restaurant says he was turned away because of the way he was dressed in a statement to Twitter and Saturday they said they have a policy that prohibits athletic clothing. They said they are a business casual restaurant.

Now this is in Atlanta. If you guys do not know, the Atlanta Hawks is a franchise really have one all-time great. They have a lot of good players. Don't get me wrong. They have a lot of good players. But they have one all-time great. And that all-time great is Dominique Wilkins, who was turned away from a restaurant in Atlanta. A lot of people demanded that the restaurant give an apology.

They've come out. They've clarified things. Killer Mike was mad. So many different people were mad. What do you think of this story? Is it a dress code thing or do you believe, Neek, when he said that it was because he was black? Of course it was because he's black. Anybody in a bigger city knows that there's a certain area in town in most big cities where there is a dress code that is put in place to turn away certain people.

If you look at these policies, they're usually related to, quote, urban attire that is not allowed because you're trying to. not have a certain crowd show up at your place of establishment. I've witnessed it firsthand, whereas it was a group of us, all black, me and my home girls were allowed to get in, and my black home boy was not. And he was told because of the way he was dressed. Meanwhile, we're standing there and two white guys walk in that are dressed just like him, if not even worse, just flat out in our faces telling us,

oh, you women can go in, but he can't go in. Right. This happens all the time. So, of course, they were discriminating against him because of the way he looked. And I'm sure if he took a tour around that restaurant, there were people who were dressed just like him or even more casual. Yeah. So he says he got to the restaurant at first and they told him there were no tables. Then they said that he wasn't dressed fashionably enough.

All right. So for every reason, they didn't want Dominique Wilkins in there. So here's my thing. I remember one time we did a story at TMZ or Juju Smith, Schuster, you know who that is? Yes. Why are you asking if I know who that is? Oh, my bad.

I didn't know that Ju-Ju-Smith-Schuster was one of the greatest of all time. No, he's not, but he's one of the most popular players, popular wide receivers in the league. Well, I'm sorry that I offended your delicate J-J-J-J-J-Smiths'er's sensibilities. I apologize. My football knowledge was just a little, like, I feel like that's basic, but thank you. You are very knowledgeable at football, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Apology. So, Juju Smith-Schuster was going into Mastros in Beverly Hills and he had on sweatpants. They did not let him in Mastros. So he comes out and he talks to one of the camera guys.

He talks to one of the camera guys and they switch pants. I remember that. Jiu-S-Mish-Suster gave the camera guy his pants and then the camera guy gave Jesus M-Sutzer his pants and then they let him in. So my thing about that is this, it's like,

they're allowed to make decisions based upon who they're going to let in the restaurant and who they're not going to let in the restaurant but if they have a dress code places have dress codes sure they do like I've been to the polo lounge before and the people at the polo lounge said hey we don't we don't we don't uh why are you making that face

fancy so I've got to the polo lounge before and people at the polo lounge were like they said hey we don't allow ripped jeans in here they're like we're like and they were super nice about it like we don't allow ripped jeans in here like we can't do it like we the manager comes by the season we can't

do the rib jeans and so they then gave me another booking whatever whatever or they said we can move it back tonight or you can come back tomorrow and we'll do this sure that's fine we don't allow ripped jeans in here so how do we know

in this particular situation that this was in fact because Neek is black. Well, when I gave my example, I flat out saw people go in that were dressed a certain way. But to hear Dominique Wilkin's story, he says they first told him one thing, then they told him another. So it seems as if, well, if it was dress code, it was dress code, you know? But then why is at first we don't have any tables available? Oh, you do?

Oh, okay, well, now it's the way that you're dressed. Right, right. True. So it seems like they were looking for a reason not to let. Dominique. That's what it sounds like and that's what he felt like. Is it possible that they were, that they didn't want to tell him he couldn't come in

because he wasn't dressed correctly so they made up the table lot? I don't think it's hard. I think most people know certain restaurants like Maestro's. Is it Maestroes or Maestro's? It's Maestroes. Okay, Maestro's has a dress code. Like, I think most people understand that. Yeah.

But you don't think people know that about the Bibliotech? Okay. it is not called the library and you just called it Biblioteca maybe it does be library in French. Did you call it Bibliotech? It's like

that's fucked up the people that a little bibliotheque did let Wilkins in there. They apologize to me library in French. I'm looking at it right now. It says we want to apologize to Mr. Wilkins for his experience

at our restaurant and also for any confusion. Addresco might have caused. Fuck that shit. Jane, I don't give a fuck. Little people who are going off. Hold on. Like little tech going off for any confusion our dress code might have caused.

We want to apologize that you, motherfucker, couldn't understand you can't wear your Nike tech warmups. Do we know how he was dressed? We don't. We don't know how he was dressed. But they said we're no way until for him to feel unwanted. We want to welcome an open dialogue with him. our upscale dining experience and our brand's culture is made up

of multiple elements which include our music, our food and our patrons attire. We continue to strive to manifest our dining experience in a way that is exciting and most importantly, inclusive.

Right. So they also say they're going through a staff shortage and they can't see as many people as they can in the restaurant. So they, but the thing is, for me, it is so interesting.

It's also interesting with me is that like, this is something that you wouldn't think that Dominique Wilkins would have to worry about in Atlanta. Not at all. He should have the keys to the city. He's a hometown hero. He's a treasure. Yeah.

I was looking up the policy to see if it was posted on the website. What does it say? What does it say? Collared shirts are suggested for gentlemen. Suggested. Suggested. Okay. Suggested.

Not required. Suggested. All right. It says, casual wear, including baseball caps, flip-flop, slides, excessively revealing clothing cut-outs, cutoffs, sweatpants, and athletic attire are considered too informal for the dining experience we provide at lay bill-bel-a-tech.

Okay, now that I'm reading it, no, it's Bilbo cat. It's Bilbo-Cette. It's like the library. That's a dope name. Do we know it would be great if we knew what he was wearing? Let me show you something. was that a dog that's the picture

that they have for policy so the dog can come in casual attire Dominique Rookings can't I can't you can't make this shit up hold on for a second the bibliotech y'all gotta take that fucking picture

of the dog down like first the dog is sitting there the dog is sitting there Bibliotech hands on the table the dog is sitting there with a glass of bubbly wearing a moo-moo

of some sort you mean to tell me I can't believe that Dominique Wilkins wasn't dressed better than this fucking dog. You see what I'm saying? I find it hard to believe. That's crazy. How is nobody pointing that out? How has nobody else recognized that?

That's wild. That dog, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. All right, let's take a break. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty, limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic

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Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janado's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Okay, so last week we had a discussion about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. And what at that point was a very bloody conflict between Israel and Palestine. We talked about that last week. Since then there has been a ceasefire There are different perspectives on how well the ceasefire is holding and how well people are observing the ceasefire But there has been a ceasefire There's also been something else a very noted rise in anti-Semitism

We've seen that anti-Semitism reflected videos And accounts of people being attacked all over the country there was an incident literally literally walking distance from my home here on Las Yeniga in Los Angeles it's like literally right up the street this area is a very very has a very deep and rich Jewish community Jewish background so you know there are different restaurants around here that are kosher and that cater to Jewish patrons specifically. The first thing that I want to say is that

I've heard all types of feedback on the episode that we did. Some people felt that the episode that we did was too one-sided in terms of being pro-Palestine and that there wasn't enough nuance in the discussion and that the building blocks of the dysfunction that are going on in that region

weren't properly laid out to people. I've heard people say that we had a tokenized Jew on. a tokenized juan to have that discussion here at higher learning and I don't want to meet to speak for Rachel but here at higher learning

I think we are completely okay with having people have opinions about the content that we put out right like sure whether or not they agree or disagree okay so you can agree and disagree with how I feel about what's going on over there you can agree

disagree about the actual meat and the quality of the interview of itself and how we decided to broach the topic. But I think we both agree that any sort of anti-Semitic violence or anti-Semitic talk, thoughts, anything is completely disgusting. and moves us further away from what it is that I think people want, a lot of people want, should I say, which is peace and stability in the region. For me personally, looking at this, I think it's completely counterproductive to that. I think the world is sort of starting to understand

some probably difficult truths about the situation over there. Mm-hmm. And to take that out and to attack people who are innocent, who have nothing to do with this, who are really, to be honest with you, still dealing with multigenerational trauma from things that have happened to sometimes not only them, but their grandparents, their relatives, people from all over the world that are Jewish is unacceptable. And I don't know if anybody thought that because I think that Israel needs to be held accountable for human rights abuses that are going on in that region or from running what I think is an apartheid state over there. I don't know if anyone thought that I would have a problem to condemning anti-Semitism, but I don't. Were you getting that in your messages?

No, I think that people were saying just to make sure. sure you talk about the recent uptick in anti-Semitism that we're seeing. Just make sure you talk about that. As if I wouldn't discuss that, of course we would discuss that. Of course. Well, we have before. Right. And I was actually having this argument with people in my DMs. Yes, I was looking at my DMs because I was getting a lot of, you speak out so much about Black Lives Matter, but you're not speaking out against anti-Semitism. And I would say, you know, obviously there's been a rise of it. We cover things that are, you know, in the news, what's making headlines, what's affecting people, what's affecting the culture. We talk about oppression. We talk about hate and all of those things.

And we've discussed anti-Semitism, particularly between what was happening with a lot of black public figures saying very reckless things and how that was affecting the Jewish community. We've had Rabbi, Rabbi Lamb on here as well before to talk about that. We've addressed this. And I think it was really disappointing that I was feeling like I had to prove myself about where we stand as a podcast or where we stand as individuals. And obviously we condemn all hate and all oppression. And I think because what was happening on Friday was there was the post of the blue square. And I don't know if you were getting that as a lot of people were asking me why I had not posted it. Right. And I did post something about a post about two truths that coexist. I don't know if you saw it. And I was talking about how we all

need to continue to advocate for Palestinian rights and their safety and condemn oppression. But at the same time, we need to condemn the hate that is happening to Jews across the world. We need to to condemn anti-Semitic behavior. People were upset with me for posting that because I put those two things in the same post. And, you know, I don't know if we should, like, I don't know if you're seeing some of that. I just, I felt like I'm glad we're talking about this because I think we really need to make it, or maybe I feel like I need to make it clear that obviously we condemn it. I think what's happening is deplorable. It's disgusting. It's gross. It's a, necessary. I can't even imagine, you know, how the Jewish community feels seeing, well, I can't

imagine, but I'm just saying that what's happening to them is terrible and it's terrifying. And I know that they're suffering as a community right now. And we here at higher learning don't stand by that type of behavior at all, even having the, just because we had the podcast that we had last week or a couple of weeks ago whenever it was. So I just want to make that clear. We're totally against what's happening. And we. Well, yeah. I mean,

violence against any group of any sort of any kind. So I will say this. So there was a rise in anti-Semitism over the last four or five years. And that rise in anti-Semitism directly correlated with the, with President Trump's presidency. There was a sharp rise in anti-Semitism. So I. It's even when in the Charlottesville rally,

they were chanting, Jews will not replace us. Okay. So for me, there is one question. Trump was insanely pro-Israel, insanely pro-Israel. And if I'm being honest, I don't think that President Trump got the fair amount of criticism that he should have for stoking white suprematist's narratives and anti-Semitic narratives

and helping to empower people like that because he was such a good friend with Netanyahu and he was so close of an ally to Israel. He made the decision to move to officially recognize the embassy not in Tel Aviv but in Jerusalem, something that that really was a controversial thing when it happened, and he was very pro-Israel. And so to me, I guess the reason why I bring that up

is because in this particular situation, the anti-Semitism that we see and the anti-Semitic violence that we see, we can't ignore. We're not good Americans if we ignore. We're not good people if we ignore them. We're not good anything. if we don't stand with people

who are being persecuted right now that have nothing to do with this. But I do wonder if there is a way to be critical of Israel, if there is a way to be critical with a state

and not endanger the lives of Jewish people. And the Trump situation is was the fact that Trump was so, friendly with Israel that that actually protect him from some of the criticism

that he should have gotten in this rise in anti-Semitic violence that we saw and excuse me, anti-Semitism that we saw. Because he didn't denounce it or do anything to prevent it? Not that he didn't, not that he didn't denounce it

or do anything to prevent it. I don't know whether or not he did or whether or not he didn't. I'm certain that Trump didn't say he's pro-antisemitism. But sometimes it's not about what you denounce. It's about what you empower. And so for me here, nothing that we talk about here is to empower Hamas. Nothing that we talk about here is to empower Iran. People that want to wipe Jews off the face of the planet. None of that is to empower them. This is not about who is empowered for me. This is about who is deep power, which is a group of people

who have been treated in a certain way in a certain region. And the reality of it is the rise in, it's just a very deep political conundrum to be in. And so for me sometimes when

I see this, and I look, I have a lot of neighbors around here that are Jewish and a lot of them are pro-Trump because of Trump's ties to Israel. Yeah. So I don't know.

I thought that's just an observation as to, well, what's the right way to do this? So if we're critical of Israel, does that mean that we're then responsible for people who go out into the world and commit abhorrent terrible things? I don't know. I don't know what the right way to do that would be. But what I do know is that I cannot ignore the state of the Palestinian people. I will not ignore that. I'm not going to ignore that.

I'll never ever turn my back on my Jewish brothers and sisters. I will never stand for anti-Semitism. I'll never, you can't be around me. You can't build with me. Anything like that. But we have to figure this out, especially if the, the United States is going to have such a close relationship with Israel to where a lot of the technology and the bombs that we're dropping and a lot of the things, a lot of that, you know, our tax dollars are going into that. Like we have a vested stake in this.

Doesn't mean that Israel doesn't have the right to exist. They do. Doesn't mean that Israel doesn't have the right to protect themselves. They do. But everybody has that right. Everybody has that right. So right now, clear as a bill, clear as day on the biggest platform I currently have.

Not one fiber in my body supports condones in any way. Not even when I say anti-semitic violence, I'm not even talking about anti-semitic violence. I'm talking about even the thought of walking past somebody that you might see with a Yamika on or a star David on and then condemning them because of something happening thousands and thousands of miles away. You don't even know what you're talking about.

Leave these people alone. Leave them alone. We're all doing our best to try to figure this out, but we're not going to figure this out by running from the questions. You know what I mean? And I stand on everything that I say. I stand on what I believe Israel will be doing right now. I stand on that.

But I also stand with Jewish people who feel themselves persecuted here in this country. That I will not, I will not at all condone or in any way turn a blind eye to. Absolutely. Okay. You conveniently, oh, whoa, whoa.

So I saw a headline yesterday that got my interest peaked. What? Did you see this about COVID and the Wuhan land lab situation? Did you see this? Yeah, but I felt like I had heard that story before. A lot of people, there's a, here's the thing.

So, of course, in case you guys didn't know, there's a story that broke yesterday that said, it was very big in the Twittersphere. Three Wuhan lab researchers were hospitalized in November 2019. They were hospitalized, which makes people think, hey, those people had COVID. And since they were lab researchers, maybe they got COVID from a lab and maybe COVID. was conceived in a lab and didn't come from natural causes in the wet markets of Wuhan are like we had been led to believe. Now, if, in fact, COVID was lab created and manmade, that will open up a can of worms heretofore. Unconceivable. I stole that directly from Avengers endgame.

Because at that point, you're looking at a major, major, major international crisis, at least in my opinion. Because if it's manmade and it's something that China kept under wraps or hit or didn't deal with, a lot of people are going to be asking the Chinese a lot of questions. Of course they should. This is another dangerous topic, though. It's a dangerous topic because it could come along with a spike. and anti-Asian sentiment? It won't could.

It will because people take things out of into their own hands which is what we're seeing right now happen with anti-Semitic behavior. But it is you know what? It just makes me think of the movies

or the books that you've read that talk about population control and creating certain diseases and viruses to fix that. If that's true, that's how people are going to be thinking. But yeah, I felt like, but when I saw the article, I was like, didn't we already know this? Didn't we already know this?

Well, number one, I don't think that we know anything because I personally believe, and I've read a little bit about this, that the reporting here could be better. There are some things cited here, some sources that are cited here that make you have to make some leaps in terms of this. And I don't think that this is a,

this, you know, comes from the Wall Street Journal. I don't think, the Wall Street Journal obviously very reputable. But I don't think that this is a lot solid that these guys were sick with COVID and they were there. I read a very interesting Twitter thread. And I can't dissect it word for word right now that really looked critically at some of the actual reporting here and talked about it.

What did give me pause, though, was, Fauci. Now, I trust Dr. Fauci. Okay. What if Fauci say? Dr. Fauci said that he is not convinced that COVID-19 developed naturally outside of the Wuhan lab. Now here's a now, now, and this puts people in a very, very interesting position, okay? Because Dr. Fauci comes out and Dr. Fauci is the voice of gospel in terms of infectious diseases in terms of all of this stuff. So listen to Dr. Fauci. Why don't Trump listen to Dr. Fauci?

Why don't Trump listen to Dr. Fauci? Most people on the left do not want to even consider the idea that COVID was manmade because the fact that COVID was manmade seems like the far right reaching for a reason to kick shit off with China. And kicking shit off with China has unintended or maybe intended consequences on the Asian Americans that live here. It's just the way that it goes. We've seen the spike in Asian hate.

But if we've been being told for the last year, year and a half now going on, at least, that Dr. Fauci knows what he's talking about. And Dr. Fauci is questioning whether or not COVID was manmade or not. Don't we at least have to consider that COVID came from? from a lap. Yes. Don't we at least have to consider that that's a thing? Yes.

Do you know what, though? I guess in my mind, I've, I haven't tried to focus too much about how it started. For me, like, as a civilian, I'm like, it's here. How do I protect myself from it? So now as a civilian that I have to think about that this might have been something that was created and put out here and think of all the lives that have lost, how we, what has been taken from us, the world that we knew and we're trying to normalize ourselves back into all of this. Plus, we're dealing with the loss, whether it be financial, physical, you know,

mentally, that's what's wild to me. That that, like, I have not even made my mind go there because you're just trying to survive living with this thing. Right. So this is exactly what Dr. Fauci said. He says, I'm not convinced about that. I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best to the best of our ability what happened. Certainly the people who have investigated say it was likely the emergence

from an animal reservoir that then infected individuals, but it could have been something else and we need to find that out. So, you know, that's the reason why I said I'm perfectly in favor of any investigation that looks into the origin of the virus. So, look,

I understand what you just said. And it's true. At this point, it doesn't really matter how COVID. It does. If they did make it manmade and they could do it again. Oh, Rachel. Rachel. If COVID was manmade.

Oh, my gosh. And there is definitive proof that COVID was manmade, which, by the way, if you listen to virologists and you listen to them talk and they talk about just how exquisite the virus is itself, just how adaptable it is. just how it seems like something that was a lot of people believe

a lot of people believe I don't know enough about this to talk about that we should have somebody on but a lot of people have been saying hey this virus is particularly good at evading things that we come up with you know and I remember one guy even saying

hey a lot of times you know viruses want to live so when they mutate they mutate to less potent strength trains. And I'm like, you know, we don't really see that with COVID. Like, you know, so there are other things maybe to be wary of. But if that ends up becoming the case. Oh, my gosh.

I just, I don't want to deal with that. There is going to be a shitstorm. Like you have never seen. And the fact that Fauci is hedging, man, oh man. We looked to Dr. Fauci to be like, nope, came from a bat. Right wing cooks. Nope, came from a bad. I watched a guy on Bill Maher months ago say he's 90% sure.

These are people that exist in the dark web of Bill Maher's browser history. But they thought that they were 90% sure that it was that it was lap grown. A lot. But I mean, I remember when it first, when coronavirus first got national attention in the states, that was always a narrative that people were talking about. But then people were just like, we're just trying to get Pat. We're just going to get through this. Now that we have this vaccine, it seems like these talks are starting all over again.

Maybe. Because Fauci said back in May, he's seen a different tune. He said if you look at the evolution of the virus and bats and what's out there now, it's very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated. Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates this virus evolved in nature than jumped species. Now, people are saying, hey, that's Fauci and Gensis. Sometimes, man, when you're a good science. you learn more and you reflect what it is that you've learned.

Remember at first it was no mask, then it was masks. Yeah. Maybe they're learning something about this virus that changes their mind. I don't want to know. Yes. Yes.

Well, look, we're going to know. That's the thing about the era that we live in, no matter what happens, we are going to know the truth about this, whether we want to know it or not. What if aliens brought the virus here? That would be dope. See, you like that kind of stuff.

And no way is that interesting. That would be dope. It would be super dope. Super dope because if they brought the virus here, they have a cure probably. And they're giving it to us. They might. Maybe that's why they've been coming here recently.

The numbers have gone down. As a matter of fact, we're talking about it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Stop talking about they've been coming here recently. Stop that. They've been coming here recently, the aliens. And the aliens have been coming here.

You know, we've been talking about this alien thing a lot since we've been in lockdown. And I haven't been okay with it. And the reality is that they've been coming here and since they've been coming here, you know, maybe they gave us the vaccine. They gave us some technology because the COVID numbers are the lowest

that they've been since last June. You just said it. You just said it. They plummet to their lowest. Are you feeling safe now? COVID-wise. Do you feel safe in society again? Yes and no.

I feel safe, but I don't feel normal. Like last night when I was working the Billboard Awards, we didn't have the mask. Neither did the talent coming through. And when people would touch me, I could feel myself like step back a bit. Like I'm just not ready. So is that me not feeling safe for me just not having human contact like that in a really long time? So I don't know how to deal with it. I don't know.

But I felt safe enough to take off my mask being vaccinated, being tested, everybody. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So the numbers, I'm going to look up to California COVID numbers right now. Let's see.

California COVID numbers right now. So right now, we are down to around 1,800 new cases a day. That's a seven-day average. Our seven-day average of new cases per day is 1,800 a day here in California. Now, that's a lot of COVID cases, obviously, 1,800 people. That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot of people.

Statewide? Statewide? Statewide. Statewide. Okay. Statewide. 1800. So if we go back to the height, which was January, the severed day average was 44,000 new COVID cases a day. Okay.

44,000. So we are definitely, it seemed to be at least coming out of this. You know, the deaths have plummeted as well now. I don't want to read off the deaths like only 35 or whatever people it is like that like that doesn't matter. That's one life gone. So, you know, the deaths are obviously changing. But, you know, it seems as if to a degree like we're ready to move on from it or we're ready to move forward, not move on. Forward.

Forward. There we go. But I can tell you one thing. If it comes out that COVID is manmade, that is going to be the beginning of like I said before. A major, major, in my opinion, international incident. Of course it is. Yeah. As a world, you have to figure out how to deal with that.

Oh, no, that's huge. I can't, I don't even want to think about that. Deal with it is not what you mean. As what you mean as a world, you're going to have to figure out how to punish China. That's what I mean by deal with it. Right. Yeah. Woo.

Woo. Stuff. What about this party that happened in Huntington Beach? You see this? it was everywhere who is Adrian Adrian is a TikToker Asian is a TikToker

Adrian is on TikTok It was a birthday celebration It turned into a massive Project X type party 150 arrests made Adrian's kickback What's the fuck Wait

It's so fucking funny This is so stupid The party originally posted To Wednesday posted Wednesday to TikTok as a meetup call Adrian's kickback by user Adrian. Dot Lopez 517 was intended to have people pop out and celebrate my birthday. The post went viral throughout the week, explaining a hashtag. That was viewed more than 203 million times.

Are you serious? Yes. Gatherings formed Friday and Saturday in Huntington Beach near Los Angeles and police dispersed crowds both nights. they arrested 28 juveniles for Adrian's kickback and 1121 adults vandalism

firing dangerous illegal fireworks village dispersed and curfew violations no major injuries were reported but paramedics were on call to deal with any medical issues the police did not of course kill any of the white people up there in Huntington Beach

doesn't it just show you how badly people want out of their homes. That, well, I thought you were going to piggyback on what you said. The last statement that nobody was killed and it just also shows the restraint that police can use if they want to. But my literally my first thought was when I was watching these videos and I was watching people do absolutely nothing but stand around and record the, the mayhem that was happening, I thought, is this foreshadowing the summer?

People came from all across the country just off something that was trending on TikTok because they were so desperate to get out. I am scared of the summer. That was it. Look, did you see the videos? People jumping off overpasses, popping firecrackers in the middle of the crowd,

running around, burning rubber, kicking each other. Adj, it's kick back. Adrian's kickback. I guess that was Adrian's fucking kickback, man. That's what the hell I'm talking about. People are so bored that this is what they're considering fun. Yeah.

It is terrifying. Look, I'm fucking with Adrian's kickback. Oh, you'll be at the next one, part two? I will. I'm 41. I feel like I can go to it. Go ahead. Like, I'm 41.

You know, like if I were to, you know, a younger me would have drove out there. out of pure curiosity just to see and I'm not even talking about like a 25 year old me let me ask you a question what's the oldest you feel like you could be

at Adrian's kickback what's the oldest you feel like you could be there if you're a man I would say probably like 32 32 all right let me ask you a question what is the cutoff age

for spring break this also is going into Van's very serious question. This is Van's very serious question right here. Okay. Vands very serious question. What is the cutoff age for you going to a spring break celebration? 25.

25. So if you're 26, no more spring break. We're talking spring break that you take off and hang out. with the college kids, right? I'm talking about not just spring vacation. You are literally going for spring break.

I'm talking about, I'm talking about you hit Miami, Daytona, Galveston, Vegas. You're doing it because it's spring break. 25. So 25.

So 25 is the cutoff. That's the graduating. When you hit a quarter of a century, you need to be progressing into another something else. I mean, I didn't say, you can't go on vacation.

I'm just saying you don't need to be at spring break. All right. Now let me ask you this. What if you're 27 but you're still in college? What if you're 27 but you're still in college? Then you need to be, you really need to be studying. What are you talking about?

What if you went? Oh, no, think about it. Oh, like, what if you went to the Army first or something? What if you went to the Army or if you went on a mission? or if you did something like that, right, you went on an army. Well, you're not going to spring break anyway. Have you ever heard of soaking?

What did I say then made you want to say that? Because of BYU. Do you know what soaking is? No. So there was an athlete at BYU, basketball player, some time ago, we'll come back to the spring break,

that he got disciplined because it was alleged he was soaking. Soaking is I don't know how they came up with this workaround up there in the Mormons. Soaking is like, it's not like sex, okay? What? So you just put your penis inside of the girl and you just leave it. That's what the athlete was doing.

And that's not sex. You penetrate it, but you penetrate it. But they, but they, but that's like one of the work around. If you're going to do all that, you might as well keep going. Like look, look, I'm looking at Urban Dictionary right now. That is gross. When the penis is put in the vagina but there is no pumping or thrusting. So it seems a little less like sex.

Preferred form of premarital sex for Mormons. She didn't want to have sex, but she let me soak for 20 minutes. 20 minutes? You better get up off me. 20 minutes. Soaking. That is absolutely disgusting. And if you're going to take those measures, how do you even have enough self-control

to just sit there for 20 minutes. But once you've penetrated, you've had sex. I'm sorry. You can call it, put it whatever verb you can put whatever verb you want to on it. You have broken you can broke it. I don't know if that's a rule. Who says did you get to make those rules?

You know, no. You've penned. Oh, okay. So we're going to get around it. We're going to do as much as we can. I'm going to do every I'm going to take off all my clothes. I'm going to stick it in. But because I didn't move, even though I had to move to put it in her, it doesn't count. Get out of here with that.

You broke the commandment. This is my thing. This is my thing about soaking, right? This is my thing about soaking. There is no thing. This is not a thing. But this is, it is. You had sex.

This is what, okay, this is my thing about soaking. So God, most powerful. He don't recognize that word. Unipotent. Most, God is the alpha and omega, the beginning of the end. He's seen all that has been. And has seen. and sees all that will be.

Okay, we're preaching. You mean to tell me that you are going to pull a fast one on God. You hear me. With your, it's just so funny. Like when I first learned about it, I laughed for days.

And you should have. Like, they're sitting there soaking, reading Bible verses to each other as if they're not doing anything wrong. It's hysterical. Anyway. Who are you falling? So you say...

25. What's your age? Oh, but yeah, I guess there's an exception, right? You never had your spring break because you were in the Army or whatever it is. You took time off in between fine. Okay. Fine. 25.

Okay, here's the thing. What is the sad age? Okay, because if the cutoff is 25, right? That means you can still go at 26 or 27 and not be. When does it become sad? What's the sad age that you're at spring break? When you hit a three in front of it. a 30

it's sad you don't need to be hanging around them not on spring break like they're going is something that's new to them they have this opportunity this freedom

no responsibility like they've had before you 30 like now let me ask you this last question stop asking me questions this is the last one

what if you're 30 but you're in school is being in school which school loophole you're in undergrad you're 30 and you're

an undergrad. Is that, is that, does that be, I need to know why. I need to know why you're an undergrad at 30. And then I need to know your life circumstances before I can, I can make that decision. Because just because you're, people go to spring break that aren't even in college, just because they're of the age. You know what I'm saying? Just because you're 30 in college, just because you're 30 in college doesn't mean that you need to be going to spring break. It's not particular to college, it's more about an age group. It's more about a time in your life. At 30, I'm going to need you to move on.

Damn. Okay, cool. I'm with it. I'm with it. Very serious questions a week. Okay. Look, guys, one year anniversary of higher learning coming up, May 28th. Okay, we need you guys. I'm pretty sure we started before then. Have we checked the numbers? We started before May 28th. That's a fact. Are we just celebrating May 28th? Well, I think the first show we did was sitting around George Floyd, right? I think it was like a week before.

Maybe. We've hit one year. We've hit one year. So we need you guys to help us celebrate the one year anniversary of higher learning. We're so excited about this in the following ways. First of all, I need you guys to all go to R slash Thought Warriors. The liveest subreddit of all the subredits out there for all your higher learning fix. Shout out to you guys over there at R-Dub slash Thought Warriors, the subreddit.

is growing every single day. All right, so two ways you can help us celebrate the anniversary. Number one, for a special edition of mailbag, we want the hashtag Thought Warriors to record their questions. Record them using voice memos and send the voice memo to higher learning ringer at gmail.com. That's higher learning ringer at gmail.com. You can be featured on the anniversary episode if you do so. We also want you, hashtag Thought Warriors,

to video record themselves saying what higher learning, means to them. Aw. Or what they've enjoyed most about the podcast over the past year. Do that and submit the video to Hire Learning Ringer at gmail.com. Are you looking forward to this, Rachel? I am. And I would like to correct myself.

The first podcast did come out May 28th. Once again. I guess because we recorded it before, I just forgive me, y'all. Yes, I'm excited. I can't believe it's been a year. A lot has happened in a year for both of us. But, you know, I'm proud of higher learning. you know, Time Square official.

We're doing our thing! Mm-hmm. And we couldn't do it without you guys. We love you guys. Thank you, Thought Warriors. Thank you so much. All right, that's enough. Tell you, thinking caps off, but do not stop learning.

I am Van Lathen. I'm Rachel Lindsay. We are out. Bye, guys.