Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Down! Breaking Down Van Jones's Appearance on 'The View' and Nick Cannon's Return to ViacomCBS

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl (0:00) and Van Jones’s appearance on ‘The View’ (9:00). They are then joined by California Representative Adam Schiff to discuss the government's COVID-19 response and how the Democratic party can better support the Black community (21:00), and Rabbi Ari Lamm to discuss ViacomCBS bringing Nick Cannon back after his anti-Semitic comments (44:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Zai Van Lathen. And it's me, Rachel Lindsay. Higher learning is on. Rachel. Rachel. Yes, fan.

Yes. I'm Brady. She's a little champion. Who did, what, who was your pick? Did you, who did you think was when? Really? I picked, I picked, I picked. I picked Brady.

But why? Why did you pick Brady, though? I felt it in my gut. That's really good. Really? I mean, but I mean, to be honest, with you. I don't know why everybody really felt the chiefs

were going to beat the pay. Whoa. The bucks. The bucks. Because I think people were truly underestimating the defense of the bucks. You saw what happened. I mean, the O line was trending. Was somebody out? Somebody was out on the O line, right? For the chiefs?

Or did I make that up? Yeah, they had two of their tackles were out. Because of the barber. Right. I mean, Barbara had COVID. Listen. The reality is this, the reason why the reason why people thought the Chiefs are going to win these same two teams play and the Chiefs earlier in the season

the Chiefs made them look goddamn crazy and by the way, the Bucks hadn't played this good It's hard to beat somebody again. The Bucks are really on a hot street. The Saints had beat the Bucks twice. We beat them at home and then we went to their house and destroyed them. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm sorry, it's the Chiefs and the Bucks. I don't know when the Saints talk creature. No, boy, what I'm saying is after, what I'm saying is I'm using that, I'm using that. to say, or I'm saying that to say that the bucks really hit their shot at the right time.

And really, if you... Brady does this too, though, by the way. If you pay attention, the chiefs kind of hit their lull at the right time because the chiefs had kind of, they won enough games to obviously get into the Super Bowl, but if you watched

in the way that they won, they hadn't been quite as dominant in their playoff run as they had sort of been before this. So they got outplay. Listen, I It was not even close. Not even close. Yeah.

I think I should have bet on it. Dominated in all phases of the game. They could not keep, first of all, the refs were in on it. No, see. No, no, don't do that. I said that after the first half, I said, the storyline is going to be that the refs are with Brady. Brady's got the refs wrapped around his finger.

That's not the case. The Bucks played a better game. I didn't disagree with any of those calls in the first half. I don't want to hear. The Chiefs made enough mistakes. Top Bowls and the staff, the defensive staff of the Bucks, just called an amazing game. Just called an amazing game.

And really, they just played their safeties high, and they never had the blitz. Like, Mahomes was running for his eye. I actually felt sorry for Mahomes after a point. And he was every single time he dropped back. They were in his face. Shaq Barrett was in his grill. Nobody could control.

Oh, Shaquille. Yeah. No, it was, I'm just mad at in bed on it, just to be honest with you. Do you think that Tom Brady is now the best athlete in American team sports history? I mean, how do you not, the things that he's been able to do, how do you not give him that credit? Like, take away your personal bias. Take away all of that. Like whatever hate you may have for Brady deflakeate all of that.

What he's done, what he's accomplished, seven Super Bowls, five MVP's of the Super Bowl. I mean, 43 years old, switching conferences, new team. It just doesn't stop for him. You got to give him his credit, Van. I give him the credit that he is the best football player. player ever maybe. Well, then there's no credit. Give it. He's maybe the best football player ever.

There's no credit. Jerry Rice is still, to me, amazing. Just in terms of accomplishments. When I say American team sports, I mean, you know, that takes Serena and some of the rest of the people out of this. Because, you know, Serena, just different. Tiger Woods, different.

All that stuff. Because put them in there. I feel like they've done more than Brady. But I would still take Michael Jordan. Okay. I would still take Michael Jordan over Tom Brady. When Jordan got to his apex, he never lost. Tom Brady, number one, is a hoe. That's first thing.

Okay. Would you like to explain why? He's just, I mean, fuck it. Tom Brady, a hoe. I don't care what y'all say. I don't like him. A lot of people don't, but can you tell me why? He's good.

No, but why is he a hoe? He's good and ho. Good and ho. Good and ho. He's just a ho. Good for him. For him, I'm crossing the line. I'm calling Tom Brady personal names

because that's how mad I am that he won. He won the game. And by the way, he won the game in a very Tom Brady-esque way. He didn't have to be great. He didn't have to be great. God just likes Tom Brady. So he didn't deserve the MVP then.

I actually thought that maybe they would have given it to Shaquille, but that was me. Or I thought Leonard Fernette played a good game. Lennon Fonet was Toten the Tater, LSU. By the way, LSU Tigers were all over the game. That's why. How many LSU Tigers were in that game?

I don't know, but I would like for you to know that Leonard Furnett and his post-game presser gave all the credit to Tom Brady. That's what your LSU Tigers were doing. That's what he was supposed to do. Called him the goat. He is the goat of quarterbacks. Maybe.

Maybe. Joe Montana. What's us up with this? Maybe. Joe Montana maybe. No, but Tom Brady, it is. It was pretty good. obviously I'm Josh and Tom Brady

It was pretty remarkable to watch It's just at 43 to be out there still Slinging that pigs going around Giving people their first Super Bowls Come on And they're going to be back They're going to be back They'll probably win the division next year

The Saints are looking for a new quarterback The Panthers don't look to be quite ready yet That's still a young team Development at the skill positions The Falcons were always Do what the Falcons do which is nothing. Shout out to Atlanta.

So they'll probably be right back as to win that division and, you know, the NFC, it'll be tough again, but they'll probably be right back. They'll be right back at the top of the conference. But yeah, it was kind of

an anticlimatic Super Bowl, though, don't you think? It was like, wasn't a very exciting game. First half was good, and I thought, okay, maybe they'll readjust and they'll come back

because we all know the chiefs do excellent in the third quarter. But then after a couple of plays, first touchdown from the bucks, I was like, it's a wrap. It's a rap. They really, the chiefs really couldn't do anything. It could have been worse.

Remember, Tampa Bay failed to score fourth and goal from the one yard line. That's right. That's right. The chiefs couldn't sustain any jobs. I thought that the, I thought that they were playing the safety so high. The chiefs would come out and they would go, okay, we're going to nickel and down the way down the field. We're going to just throw the ball in the middle of the field. Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey, made them bring the safeties up and they'll take some D shots.

It just didn't work. No. He just didn't have enough time to do any of that stuff. No. And they made just enough mistakes. Like, they didn't make any spectacular plays. They dropped a couple of balls

and just enough mistakes for Brady to get in there. I'm telling you, God just likes Tom Brady a little bit. Or as we've discussed on this podcast, maybe it's not God. Maybe it's the devil.

It couldn't be bad. Because think about it, man. Think about the 283 Super Bowl. That's a great comeback. That's a great comeback. That's a great comeback. But the reality is, Do you know how bad the other coach has to fuck that off in order to blow that lead?

That's craziness. That's craziness. Well, shout out to Tampa Bay. Congrats. Congrats. Congrats to you guys. Congrats to Bruce Ernst. Congrats to all of those black assistants.

Brian Lefich, Todd Bulls. Shout out to all of those. All of the LSU Tigers that won. Devin White, Lennifer Nett, all of those guys that were able to get there. And lost. Well, some LSU Tigers lost, yeah. Clyde, Elisle-Air. Tyrone Matthew.

We got to find out what was going on between Badger and Tom Brady. Hey, Badger's the one who ran up in Tom Brady's face. Yeah, but he says that Tom Brady said something, though. He says that he ran towards Tom Brady. Badger says that Tom Brady called. I side with Badger. I stand with Badger on there. He said he called him what?

He said he called him a name, but he's not going to repeat. Come on. Just say it. Are you saying Badger's lying? If it was a name, I want to hear it. I stand with Badger. All right. Look, let's take a break real quick.

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Van down. I love you saw this. Before we get into this topic, we got a couple of guests on the show today. We got a rabbi Arie Lamb who's going to come in and break down a Nick Cannon situation for us. Nick Cannon. Yes. Because you guys know, he's got his situation back with CBS Viacom. he's back in the Viacom family.

And also we have Adam Schiff. Congressman. Congressman. Adam Schiff from California. It's coming to the day he's going to be out sitting down, higher than a little seat. So that's going to be coming up real soon. So we got a big, big, big show.

But look, I want to say this real quick because we didn't get to talk about at the top. Shout out to Gorilla Girl, Glue, the Guerrilla Glue Girl, wherever you are. Why? Why shout out. Shout out to her, man. That was the whole saga.

That to me was one of the more... It's still going. Oh, it's still going? I don't believe it was removed, was it? I'm sorry, maybe I stopped paying attention after a while. She went to the hospital. They can't get the gorilla goo out of your hair in the hospital? Did she show you her head?

She went to the hospital. I don't know. I don't know her name on social. I can't find her. I don't know her name on social. By the way, I'm not, I'm not going to look. I'm not going to search out the gorilla goo. I hope she did.

I hope she came up. Yeah, we'll see. But no, Van Down, Van Jones, a guy's hands handed to him. Okay? He went on the view and he was there to promote his new documentary that he executive produced with Megan McKeague, the reunited States of America. We talked about it here on High Island. And when it was time for Sunny Houston, shout out to Sunny. Lover.

To talk with Van Jones. This is what happened. People in the black community don't trust you anymore. What is your response? Okay. When you saw that, Rachel, what were your thoughts? I clapped. You clapped. Good for Sunny. Good for Sunny.

First of all, I don't know what Van Jones thought was going to happen when he got on the view. I don't know if he really thought they were just going to talk about this documentary with Megan McCain. But if you watch The View, just one episode, you know that they're not really that big of fans of her. Her co-host aren't of her. So they were going to use this opportunity with Van Goghap. Jones to get at Van Jones. I thought it was great. I thought Sonny asked what a lot of black people are thinking. They want to understand you. We've talked about Van Jones on the podcast. I believe I've called him an opportunist on this very podcast. And I do find it confusing that he does seem to go back

and forth. And I don't know who he is. Maybe at a time I did, who he is and what he stands for, but he does seem to hop on the moment. And it is confusing his affiliation with Trump administration with Jared Kushner. And I think that those questions were well-warned. And I even felt like when he answered, I still didn't understand where he was coming from. There is, I understand you wanting to bring people together. But when you're playing both sides, that's where it gets confusing. And to me, he seems to play both sides.

Yeah. Well, she basically, she said that the black community no longer trust him. He said, Van Jones's whole position here is that. he is doing such amazing things and in order to do those things sometimes you have to reach across the aisle. There's no problem with that. You don't have a problem with him reaching across the aisle.

So what is it that you specifically have a problem with you working together? But I think that like when it came out that he was working with police reform and he's like, no, no, no, no, I was never involved. I heard he really was involved. Like it's like, well, which one is it? Why are you working with Jared Kush?

You mean when you're saying that he was, he had something to do with the Trump executive order? Yes. with police and he was like, no, no, no, no, no, but you have the Trump administration saying that he was involved, which one is it? I think that you can reach across the aisle, but not sacrifice yourself in the process of that. And I think that's what the community feels from him. Like, you're not reaching across to make something work together. It's like you're playing both sides. That's what it comes across. And so which one is it? Yeah, I think that the most important

thing is that, you know, if it's just difficult to work with the administration and then cry when a new administration takes hold. I'm glad she brought up that specific incident or incidents because it just seems performative when you do that. Now look, to Van's point, what he's basically saying is that

somebody's got to do this work in order for it to get done. And that's a very, very strong point. But I don't know. You know, what? Well, I mean, if you're working with the Trump administration to get things, done, that's fine because you're trying to get things done,

but would you refer to Trump as the Uniter in chief? No. Exactly. But Van Jones has. Van Jones has. Also, let's get the straight. You're not fucking with Van Jones. Like, you're, it seems like... I believe you've made this comment to me before. I'm just saying, I am Sonny.

I am Sonny. I'm just trying to figure out where you stand on all of this. I think Sunny definitely is not really fucking with Van Jones. And in Navarra. great points too. And his response to taking pictures, if you didn't see also, Anna Navarro, questions him about his affiliation

with the Trump administration and Jared Kushner specifically in taking pictures with them and even references Candice Owens. They ran out of time, so he really didn't get an opportunity to respond. But what he did say is, I'll take a picture with anybody. Right. Which was a bad thing to say. Terrible. You can't say that. You can't say I'll take a picture

with him. Thank you. Thank you. You'll take a picture with David Duke. That's exactly what I'd said, Ben. You don't take a picture with David Duke, man. You wouldn't take a picture with David. That's exactly what I said. Or maybe you would. I don't know.

No, yeah. You'd take a picture with anybody. Right. Because he's just trying to get things done. He might take a picture with Beyonce and captioning it. He's standing here with Mary J. Blotch. I forgot about it. That's why we can.

He's not with us. I forgot about that. That's what they should have asked him about. They should have asked about that. I should ask him about that. Name that tune. Name this tune. That's what they should do.

If we ever have. them on there, we should play songs and be like, who's saying it? If we have Van Jones on this podcast, which is never going to fucking happen now. If we have Van Jones on this podcast, we are inviting Van Jones to play name that tune.

Yep. On this podcast. Yep. All right. As a matter of fact, if you listen to higher learning, tweet Van Jones. The gauntlet has been thrown down. That's right. Name that.

tune, Higher Learning Culture Edition. And by the way, we're not going to play, you know, Drake and Little Baby Gonna Never Recovery. We're not going to play songs we wouldn't, we know that he doesn't know.

Yeah. We're going to play songs. We're going to play the standards, the classics of Black Americana. And see if Van Jones can do this. And by the way, the gauntlet is thrown down. If he can do this,

I'd say it looks pretty good. for them, you know? It'd go a long way. A long way is what I would say. I think that you should mix it up and not just play black artists. Just throw it in there because if you can't name the black because you can't name the other ones, I think we have a problem. That's going to be, see, you're trying to get this man caught up. I'm just actually trying to, so you throw in a whole whole whole whole, well, I tell you what, that's Perry Cuomo, live. I know that one. I know that too. That's Peri Cuomo alive at the Palladium. Okay.

I've heard that one. That's actually, that's a limited, that's a limited. He's never coming here. A limited. That's limited. Okay. I know that one. I know that one.

Whatever chance we have, it's a rat. By the way, that's not to say Peric Cuomo, not hot. It's hot. It was the imitation for me. It was. Oh, I know who that is. That's the. the Lawrence Welk orchestra.

Lawrence Welk. I love the Lawrence Welk show. By the way, I bet you even know that. They used to do the Lawrence Welk show at the Paladium. I bet you didn't know that. Did you know that? No, I did not. Do you know what the Lawrence Welk show is? I don't. Don't Van Jones me. Wow. Wow. See? I mean, it's white as hell.

So I don't know why you're looking it up. It's not something you're supposed to know. But, you know, it's tiny bubbles. Just making sure. Wow. Look at us. I'm looking at it. Lawrence Walt. Lawrence Welk, it's a big thing. It was a big huge thing back in the day amongst white people. I see. But look, look, it raises questions, this whole Van Jones thing.

It raises questions about whether or not we're too attached to political purity. So I guess that's the only thing. I don't have a problem. It's like you can reach across the aisle. but don't reach across the aisle and jack somebody off. I think that's the thing. Don't lose yourself in it. Yeah, reach across the aisle and reach across the island,

don't reach across the aisle and, you know, give somebody a handy. That's too much. Reach across the aisle, do whatever you do, then come back on. Come my back, quick. Well, and it depends. Not all aisles are made the same. Reaching across the aisle to talk to sensible conservatives about differences that you have is one thing. We're reaching across the aisle into Trump.

that's a different type of aisle. That's, that's, that's an aisle that probably, well, he was keykeying with them. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. But once again, this is coming from someone,

and I always have to say this, because there's a laundry list of things that Van Jones actually gotten accomplished. So everybody that's criticizing and stuff like that, just know that we all got to do more work and kind of stop loving peanuts at people from the cheap seats because it's very easy to do.

So I don't want to take anything away from what Van Jones has gotten accomplished because he's gotten a lot of stuff accomplished on behalf of a lot of people. As you have to point that out. I'm not, I think people have been confused since the Trump administration started. Do you see, like, I do. And I think that's where it's like, we understood you, but now we're a little confused, you know, starting in maybe 2016. Hmm.

All right. Well, very, look, sure. everything will be fine. You know, a very successful guy, stuff like that. Van, come on onto the podcast. Play name that tune with us. Come on, man. We got you, buddy. We'd love to have you. We'd love to have it. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, Guselcomab, take.

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Absolutely. Almost like a calming presence whenever I hear this gentleman talk. He is a U.S. member of the House of Representatives. from the state of California. Higher Learning. We have Adam Schiff joining us today. What's up, everybody? All right.

Now, we already talked about your background back there, how beautiful the fireplace is, but no more pleasantries. We have to get down to some serious, serious talk here. Now, I'm scared. I'll be quite honest with you. Adam, I'm scared about the direction of the country, I'm scared about the divisiveness in the country right now.

I'm scared about the emotional trauma and scars left from the Trump administration. You, I live here in California, you are one of my elected officials here, one of my elective representatives. Tell me why I shouldn't be scared. Look, I can certainly understand the concern. I share a lot of it, but I do think we have turned a really important corner. It is, I have to say, wonderful to turn on the television now and to see an administration that makes sense. It's doing the right things for the country that's trying to help people who are in distress right now by providing them relief from economic hardship. That's rolling out a good vaccination program for the country and trying to accelerate the vaccines as soon as possible that's committed to equity in fighting discrimination.

you know, it's, I think, a very positive new direction. But you're absolutely right. We have a lot of rebuilding to do after the last four years. And of course, what President Trump gave a license to, the ugliness, the bigotry, the hatred that we saw descend on the Capitol on January 6th, that's not going away with the end of his administration. We have to continue fighting that. and it's going to be a long struggle. But it's worth it. You know, we have been devoted to the principle of a more perfect union. We are still far from the realization of that dream,

but the dream persists and we struggle on. And, you know, just to piggyback a little bit onto what Van was saying, to add to the fear, Van said that you're kind of a calming presence when we see because we saw you a lot on our television screens at the end of 2019. and then at the beginning of 2020 with the first impeachment trial,

your name is on the short list to be the attorney general for California, state we both live in. And it seems like you would be leaving. You're someone that we recognize in Congress, and you could be leaving Congress to go to California and, you know, be the attorney general. Why would you want to leave Congress, especially, you know, it adds to the fear.

Like, why would you want to leave? You know, is it because there is so much. discord? Is it because it isn't unified and people do seem to be stuck on their party lines and not coming together? Look, I think that both places are an opportunity to serve. And I think the governor has a lot of great choices for California AG. I just want to make sure that I can help our state and our country get through this pandemic, get back on its economic feet, that we deal with these systemic problems. And I'm, you know, ready, willing, and able to help at whatever level I can in whatever way I can. So this is not, for me, a reflection of any belief that we can't get things done in Congress.

We can and we will and we must. And if I stay in Congress, that's exactly what I will do. But I'm just looking for an opportunity to be of service wherever I am. And I know that's how both of you feel as well. Let's stay on COVID for a second. As we speak right now, we are seeing declines in cases. We're seeing sort of a rebound from some of the worst spots that we were around a month ago. You know, it remains to be seen how yesterday, how Super Bowl parties will impact those numbers. But we're also seeing troubling developments in terms of variance and mutations of the virus itself.

we're seeing both a South African strain and a strain from the UK that are proven elusive to some of the therapies that we've had and even to some of the vaccines and some of the tests, the extent to which is not still known. Why should we have any faith that with something that's changing by the day, right? Something that's changing with every single second we get more scientific information. And there's a lot of fear. People are very afraid of what's happening on that front. Tell us what you know about the Biden administration and about the Democrats plan to be more aggressive in combating coronavirus than Trump. Why are we in a better place now? Well, I think we're in a better place for many reasons.

We're in a better place because the new administration is relying on science. So they're pushing out good information about the importance, for example, of wearing a mask and maintaining social distance. There's none of the conflicting kind of idea, oh, you're not. not, you're not macho if you wear a mask or it's not, you know, masks are just political correctness. There's none of that nonsense. Joe Biden is, you know, and Kamala Harris are very blunt about it. This saves lives, wear a mask. They're also working hard to accelerate the production of the vaccines. They're utilizing the Defense Production Act. They're working with the manufacturers of the vaccines. They're exploring whether they, to put more doses in each vial to overcome certain

supply chain problems. They're doing whatever is necessary, engaging FEMA, setting up federal and state sites and local health care sites around the country to accelerate vaccines, working with pharmaceutical chains like or drugstore chains like CVS and others to put these vaccine sites in neighborhoods that are accessible to people. So they're doing exactly what they should be doing. And they're doing with a sense of urgency. Now, you're right, we're in a race against the virus which is mutating. The good news is that the vaccines thus far are very effective against each of the mutations. But some of those mutations help spread the virus faster. Some of them are somewhat more resistant to the vaccines. And so the question is, do we get this pandemic under control before those mutations

have a chance to overcome the vaccines. And it's just a race. The more people we vaccinate, the quicker we vaccinate them, the more people who wear masks and slow transmission, the more we get out ahead of mutations, the more we can put an end, frankly, to mutations. And so this is why we all need to do what's in our power to win this struggle.

Because, you know, well, you know, everybody's going to have to wait until they the vaccines are broadly available, one thing is already completely available, and that's wearing a mask. And a mask can be as effective as a vaccine. So we know what we need to do. It's too early to say what the effective yesterday will be. But my hope is that that steep, downward slope in the curve that we've been witnessing now will continue because the number of vaccinated Americans is going up millions and millions every week. And I'm hoping and praying that we win that race against time. Congressman, you know what's not available?

Relief. Relief. The coronavirus relief bill. When can, it seems like other countries seem to be providing relief to their citizens. And here in America, we're still suffering. We're still hurting. So many people still need relief. When can Americans expect some relief? And then also, what would that relief look like in the bill that's currently sitting in Congress and it's proposed? Well, I hope and believe that they will get more relief soon. You know, the administration is committed, as we are in Congress, to passing a big package to help people with checks going out to individuals in the amount of $1,400 bringing up to $2,000, these last two rounds of direct support.

But an extension of unemployment compensation, money to schools, to help schools reopen, monies to states and cities to help get vaccinations rolled out money for the vaccination program, money to help renters pay their rent and not become homeless. These are just some of the ingredients in this package, help for nutrition so families don't go hungry. and, you know, it's my hope that this can be done very quickly. I know the president is interested in seeing whether Republicans want to work together with Democrats, but he's also not willing to pass a package that's too small to do any good, simply because that might be the price of getting Republicans on the bill.

It's not worth it to do too little. And right now, I think economists across the spectrum from liberal to conservative are pretty much an agreement that the bigger risk here is that we do too little to help the American people, not that we do too much. All right. Adam, I'm not sure if you realize this, but both Rachel and I are black.

I'm not sure if that comes across here on the Zoom call, but we are. And I have to be honest with you, over the past, I'd say year, year and a half, two years, a lot of my black friends have grown increasingly disillusioned with the Democrats. I myself am a disillusioned Democrat. I'm as liberal as they come,

but last year was the first year that I actually left the Democratic Party because what I looked at was generations of loyalty to a party and not as much progress for the black community, either the one that I represent in South Louisiana or even here in Los Angeles when I look around. I hadn't seen the economic growth.

I hadn't seen the development. I hadn't seen really any sense of progress to a degree in a community way that made me still want to be a part of the party. If I were going to turn that over to you to fix the relationship between black Americans and a Democratic Party, what would you do specifically for black people to make them lifelong Democrats? why do you feel like this is happening? And what do we have to do in this country to have the debt that we've paid to be a part of this country

be addressed by the political party that counts us as part of them? Well, that's a very good question. And look, I hope we can bring you back to the party because we need good people like you and the party. And I think the reality is that as a party, we haven't done enough. and when we do things, we often don't communicate what we're doing.

I think it begins, frankly, by sitting down with the community, finding out what are the needs and aspirations of the community, getting ideas from the community about what people think would be helpful to lift them up and lift their community, and then making sure that we deliver. And ultimately, you're only as good as what you deliver. So that, I think, is the process that we're, we ought to use.

Can I jump and ask you a question? Why do you feel like that hasn't happened? It's been 60 years of black people being loyal to the Democrats. And this is not to hang you out there to draw. This is just a question. That seems like that's the answer to the question. The question is directly tap in with the community, feel what the wants and needs are. Do you have any answers as to why that hasn't happened for the amount of time that we've

been loyal to the party? Well, honestly, I think any answer I give you is going to be inadequate because we just haven't succeeded. And there are enormous challenges that have been unmet. But I do think that of the two parties, there's only one party that is committed to equality, fighting discrimination, economic opportunity. And that is the Democratic Party as imperfect as it is. But we're going to have to do better and we're going to have to deliver more. And I think that with this administration, you see a real seriousness about that task in a way that I haven't seen before. I don't know that anyone has seen before a determination, you know, beginning with the pandemic to make sure that communities of color do not continue to be disproportionately devastated by this pandemic, that we bring the vaccine to communities of color, that we bring economic relief to communities of color, that we, the,

We help those that are most vulnerable right now. And that that doesn't end with the pandemic, that as we build back our economy and we recover from this thing, that we build back in a way that is inclusive of all of America, that gives everyone a chance to succeed, that leaves no community behind. So I think there is a real devotion by the administration and the Congress to doing that. that is heart and soul, the Democratic Party. I do think part of where we have failed in the past is not only in executing what we're trying to do, but also in communicating with black and brown communities what we're doing.

A lot of working people, and this goes beyond minority communities, a lot of working people don't realize that we're the party working people, and that's on us. you know, of all of the arguments that Donald Trump made, and, you know, so many of them were designed to appeal to the dog whistles of bigotry, but of all the arguments he made, the one that I think resonated the most was the argument to the forgotten people, that there were a whole segment of American society that had been ignored and forgotten, and he wasn't going to forget them. Now, he did nothing for them. but there are a great many Americans, black, brown, white, Asian of every community who do feel that the economy hasn't worked for them, and nobody seems to care about it.

No one seems to be doing anything about it. And I think that the Democratic Party ought to make its mission making this economy, as we come back from this, work for every American in every community. we leave no one behind. That to me is an agenda that would work in every part of the country. And given the growing disparity between rich and poor, which so disproportionately impacts communities of color, it's an economic and moral necessity that we figure out how do we restructure our economy so that it works for everyone.

I want to talk a bit about the impeachment trial that's happening this week. It's starting this week. there are a number of people who believe that this shouldn't this trial shouldn't be happening. They feel like it will negatively impact Biden and the White House. And then we know that Trump's attorneys are arguing that this is unconstitutional. You were very involved in the first trial. I'd like for you to just say, tell us what your take is on this upcoming trial,

what we can expect, how it will be different. I know it's a different charge. If you could just tell our listeners that. Of course. And, you know, the argument. that the Trump defense is making that you can't try a former president is not supported by our history, by the language of the Constitution, or by common sense. And a lot of times you'll find that the provisions in the Constitution seem at odds with what we know of history or what the

country needs. In this case, it all points to the same conclusion, which is you can not only try a former president, but under these circumstances, it's imperative to do so and to convict him. And I say that because at the time the founders were writing the Constitution, they were aware of the British precedent and the two highest-profile cases in Britain before the writing of our Constitution, both involved impeachment of former officials. And our founders knew that if they didn't want to follow the British practice, they knew how to write a Constitution that would say so. And they didn't do that because they understood that one of the important remedies of impeachment is removal, but the other important remedy is disqualification from holding future office. So the history

supports the trying of this president. The text also of the Constitution supports it. The text says that the Senate has the power to try all impeachments. This president was impeached before he left office, and they clearly have the power into the Constitution to try all impeachments, including this one. And the fact that there are two separate remedies, removal and disqualification, demonstrates that the founders had in mind that a former official could be impeached so that they could be disqualified. But probably the most powerful argument is the common sense one, and that is it cannot be the case. that a President of the United States can try to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.

And if they're successful, they're president for life. And if they fail, the worst that happens is they try again. That cannot be the case. That would be suicidal, if it were. And this underscores why it's so important to go forward with the trial, regardless ultimately what the Senate does. The House can only do its duty, and we did. We impeached him.

The senators should follow their oaths. And if they do, incitement of this attack on the Capitol is more than impeachable offense. But even if they don't follow their constitutional duty, the country needs to see the proof of this president's misconduct. So it can be warned once again of the danger that he opposes to this country. And one final point on this. And this gets back. to, I think, maybe the first question you asked me. This wasn't just a Trumpist insurrection against the government. It was a white nationalist insurrection. And, you know, the images of those Confederate flags and those Auschwitz T-shirts marauding through the Capitol demonstrate just who this president was calling to arms. And that does, I think, tell us just how long the road ahead of us is. The number of people that have responded to the president's bigoted messages, the degree to which he has normalized and brought to the surface, these racist sentiments, tells us that we have a long hard road ahead of us, but it begins with an acknowledgement

of what's happened. And that is the purpose of the trial as well. Thank you so much for giving us some time. One last question before you go. You brought something up and I had a conversation of spirit one with a guy yesterday. There's been a lot of equivocating and what aboutism between the capital insurrection and the protests this past summer following the death of George Floyd. Between what happened on January 6th

and the widespread unrest that happened this summer, I'm asking you because a lot of people when the Fox News information silos of the world has said, hey, Democrats didn't condemn that, so they can't condemn this. Do you see a difference between what happened at the Capitol on January 6th and the uprisings and the unrest and the protests that happened this past summer? Do you see a distinction there? Without a doubt, yes, a profound distinction.

First of all, you had peaceful protests against systemic racism in the Black Lives Matter movements. I participated in them and they were peaceful. And when there was violence by people who tried to. to capitalize on those peaceful protests to instigate violence. We condemned it. We all condemned it. This, far from a peaceful demonstration against systemic racism, was a racist demonstration against the continuity of our government and a peaceful transfer of power. It couldn't be more night and day. But it is just like the supporters of Donald Trump to make those arguments of false equivalency that what aboutism. They've been doing.

doing it for more than four years now, and they will continue doing it into the future. Van, you point out, I think, one of the cardinal challenges we face as a country going forward, and that is just how much we get our information from different places. You know, a lot of those marauders, when we watched them in airports as they were harassing members of Congress flying home after that failed insurrection, you could see these were true believers. They've been fed the president's lives, lies, they believe the president's lies. They watched the president's lies echoed by others on TV, including by members of Congress. And they lived in that information bubble, that fictitious world. Breaking down those information silos

is going to be really important and a hard, long-term task ahead of us. Fantastic. Adam Schiff, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope that everyone, look, man, I'll come back to the party. I'll come back. to the party if there's a reason to come back. If the Democrats, I'm a liberal. I'm as liberal as they come. I'm as liberal as they come. Just a party means something to me.

I'm willing to come back if there is a reason to come back. And hopefully with this new administration, they'll give me a reason. Well, you know, when this pandemic is behind us and we're allowed to do this again, I want to get together with you both for coffee. And I'm pulling you back into the party. We'll take it.

We'll take it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, brother. Thank you. Take care and I'll be well. 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 or brunch. As is their trending mango, Yuzu, chantilly cake. But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with the yellow sale signs storewide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring. Save at Whole Foods Market. Somewhere out there is a Chevy truck. And the person who drives

it, well, that's a Chevy person. You'd probably know one, your buddy, your sister, ones who always show up. Do the first to rise, the last to leave? They always have that little extra something. and maybe you've got it too. Chevrolet, together let's drive. Visit chevibe.com slash trucks to explore the lineup. All right now you guys have heard the news. Nick Cannon is officially back with Viacom. Nick Cannon, uh, I guess has been, I don't know if reinstated is the right word, That's the word. The working relationship between Nick Cannon and Viacom, CBS, is back on. He had previously been shunned by the company.

They severed business ties with him after last summers, no other way you can put it, anti-Semitic talk that went on on Nick Cannon's podcast, Cannon's class. It costs him a lot. You guys all know about that. We've covered it here in higher learning. We were going to talk about the reconciliation between Nick Cannon and Viacom. But then we thought, what do, what does it matter what we think about it?

I mean, it matters, but doesn't matter that much, not really. Right. So I actually just made the acquaintance of someone that I think is really brilliant and special. Rabbi Ari Lam joining us today on higher learning. We had a fantastic conversation about all types of different world issues. We got deep. We broed out. And so we thought that we would ask you, Rabbi Ari, someone who works a lot to bridge cultural gaps to help people get an understanding of how different cultures can live and work together.

And specifically, some of the stuff that's been going on recently between the black culture, the black American culture and the Jewish culture here in this country. What are your thoughts? First of all, thank you for joining us today on Higher Learning. We appreciate you being here. Thank you for joining us. I'm so excited to be here with both of you. So you guys didn't bring me on for my Brady hot takes because I got those.

Oh, we can do that too. I got that. We were like, we could do that too. Listen, I am here for one reason and one reason only, and that is Tom Brady has seven super bowl rings. So I am here to give praise to the one and only goat of the NFL. Elon Manning, my man, who is two and no against this Joker brace. Two and O against Tom Brady.

Two and O. He hasn't lost. He hasn't lost. Every. Every ring that guy gets just makes my man even better. Yeah, he does. By the way, not only just two and O, but Eli had made some big throws, some big, huge throws in those two games.

Yes, yes, yes. You talk like Cowboys fans talk. I'm a Cowboys fan. You sound very disfolution. I love it. My wife, Shlomites a Cowboys fan. That almost like broke apart a relationship, you know. Yeah, I can see, yeah.

So you saw that Nick was, had reconciled with CBS Viacom. as a Jewish man, as a leader in your community, your first thoughts were what? So the first thing I think about is how crazy and like totally insane it is. The only time, it seems to me, just as like a consumer of this kind of media and pop culture and that kind of stuff,

the only time that the Jewish and black communities in America seem to talk is after like a crisis where like one side offends the other. And that seems to me like one of the greatest missed opportunities in the history of this country. I kid you not, in the history of this country. And the way I think about it is, I mean, a couple ways, but one is there's this really great concept I think about a lot about kind of like two ways of thinking about the

biblical story that I cared a great deal about in the Hebrew Bible. And that is that there's a covenant of fate, a covenant of destiny, right? Fate is what we're running away from, right? So, you know, what are the things that are threatening our communities? What are the things that are causing us harm? What are the things that are causing us to hunker down? Right? So that's like the Egypt story, right?

Like, you're in slavery, you're in bondage. Like, what are you escaping from? But then there's the question of what's our destiny. What are we – freedom is not just about what you run away from. Freedom's about what you're running towards. What are we coming together to build? And I feel like – you know, and that's the story of the Ten Command. You're not just running away from Egypt. You're running towards Sinai, right? So when I think about

the black and Jewish communities in America, we're bound together by a covenant of faith so far, right? People are threatening us. There's racism in this country. I mean, look at what we've been seeing over the last year and all the reactions to the things have been going on for decades, if not centuries, in this country. And, you know, the Jewish story is, you know, from one perspective, you could tell it as a story of just like constantly getting slapped in the face by this country and that country and getting thrown out here and there. And so that's fate. We share a similar fate. But we haven't yet gotten to a point as a country, and we're still not there, where we're asking, as two communities, Jewish community and the black community, what are we trying to build together?

What can we build together? Because I'll tell you this, in this country, you can make the case, I would make the case, that there has never. been an example, not a single example in the history of this country of progress that has been made that has not been built on the ideas and the vocabulary of the Bible. It's never happened from founders, Harry Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, FDR, I mean, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, go down the line. Anyone who's ever done anything great has always done it on the backs of those values. And the two communities in this country that I think feel most close to those traditions and have never confused them with power, with like majority

power, have been the Jewish community and the black community. And we have so much that we could build together. And yet the only thing I often see is coming together to like denounce things or fight against things or protect things. Like that's our covenant of faith. What's our covenant of destiny? So Nick Cannon, I, and I want to, you know, get into that whole dynamic because I have a lot of thoughts about that. But I kind of want this to be an opportunity. Like I see Nick Cannon as having such potential to do something amazing, which is instead of using this as an opportunity to say, here's what I've learned about how not to offend people again, right? The question should be,

okay, what are my core values? What are the core values of my community? What are the core values of this community that I want to be in face-to-face dialogue with? And how can we take those things and use them to build something that will change this country forever? That's the opportunity now. What kind of message, though, do you think that it sends out to society when you have a big corporation, CBS Viacom, fire to make a statement because they don't agree and it doesn't, They don't stand in line with what Nick Cannon said, but then to rehire him. And then I'm curious how you think that should have been handled. Like what should have been done?

So, oh, it's such a good question. Okay. So I have like an extended hot take on this. Go for it. Oh, that's no better a hot take than an extended hot take. Yeah, right, exactly. This is just like endless jalapeno peppers. So there's this culture that we live in now.

And like, call it a cancel culture. or like denouncing culture. I like to think of it as like disavowal culture, which I hate, which is when you have somebody who's close to you in your life, who does something terrible, or who says something terrible. So we live in a world now

where the expectation is that you disavow that person. And it's especially, you know, pressure that's put on you to disavow somebody when that person's like a family member or a friend or a pastor or a rabber or whatever it is, right? Like, they want you to really, like, push this person out of your life. And I feel like, I think that's what happened to Nick Cannon. And listen, Nick Cannon just, you know, said some pretty terrible things.

So I get where the desire for that alienation and kind of, like, ritual, you know, decapitation comes from. But at the same time, I grew, listen, I grew up and I'm still a really proud, a passionate member of, like, a really, like, religious Jewish community. And I feel like the black community America also just has this deep religious roots. And one thing that you know, if you're part of a really traditional community, is that the most important thing that you have in your life, there's nothing more important than this. It's family. And the people that you care about, not because you choose to, because they share your values or because they, you know, or because they hold opinions that you enjoy, you have these unchosen obligations towards them. And we've like forgotten, forgotten about unchosen obligations

in this country. Because we're living in a world where we kind of treat attachments to each other as like they're only chosen. If you want these attachments, great. And if not, throw them out of your life. And so as much as I feel like, yes, when Canada does something terrible. It needs to be denounced and that's and he needs to be called out. But at the same time, there's something that as someone who like really gets and like lives every day, like a really traditional community, like I'll give you an example. Like during COVID, during the pandemic, when Jews get together to pray, so you can't just pray, like prayer is not something you do by yourself. You need a group. So obviously with COVID,

that's a huge challenge. And, you know, we've figured out ways to not congregate the way we normally do. But every, you know, every week and every Shabbas, like every Saturday, right, for the Sabbath, I go out in the freezing cold and I get together with like 10 or 20 other people and we pray. Now, those 10 or 20 people, I hope they're, I mean, I hope they're not listening to this. But like, all those 10 or 20 people, like some of them are great. some of them maybe not my favorite

right like but anytime you're getting together with like a group of people whose connection is based on something unchosen you're gonna run into people you don't love and you don't have anything in common with but the reason you stand outside

every week in like sub-zero weather with these people is because that's what tradition and family is about and if you wonder why in this country people are like lonely, suicide rates are up, opioid use is up and violence is up and people like, I mean, for this reason, because we're like so quick to like throw people away. So part of me with Nick Cannon

is like, yeah, we should have a reckoning about like the views that he holds. Like, why are they bad? And what can we do to make them better? And vice versa, by the way, what can we do about stereotypes about his community and other communities, including my community? Like, what can we do to make those views better. But part of me is like, I don't want, I don't want the black community to, like, kick Nick Cannon to the curb just as he said something offensive. What I want is the same thing that I would want for my community, which is I want his brothers and sisters to hug him and cry with him and cry with themselves because he believes something so crazy and terrible. And then help him educate himself. Like, that's what I want. So you know what?

And it's, it's, it's so interesting and powerful that you say that. But at the same time, it's really hard. And, all right, I tell you why I feel like it's hard sometimes. Number one, I feel like sometimes that they don't want, specifically us, black people, they don't want us to stand together. What they really want is for us to meet an American purity standard that, because the way that, they divvied up the community is, hey, you're one of the good ones. You can come and you can come be a part of America.

You're one of the ones that's okay. You can be a part of America. You can't bring anybody with you. And if you do bring somebody with you, the moment that they run a file of something, then you have to leave them behind. It's almost kind of like you have to pledge allegiance to something, right, to kind of get what it is that you're going to get. And it was frustrating, specifically with Nick.

me and Nick are not the closest two people in the world but I would consider Nick Cannon to be my homie like seriously I would consider Nick Cannon to be Nick Cannon came out

I've had Nick Cannon on a podcast go back and forth and more than that I respect them so I want the ability the ability to say hey this person did something horrible all right

and watch them kind of get it back together But at the same time, I understand the other impulse because so many times as a black man, I've listened to people say horrible things. I've watched people do horrible things. We watch cops shoot black people down. And it doesn't seem like they suffer any consequences for it. So I get the impulse to say destroy, destroy, destroy, but it's just different when it happens to someone

who you kind of understand. I even understand how that conversation happens. I don't understand how people think it, but I understand how that conversation happens. So, and within our community, we're going to huddle around each other, right? And we're going to rally together. The grace has to come from outside of the community

if Nick is going to get his stuff back. And if Nick, and sometimes that's tough. It's tough for black people to rely on the grace of anybody else because we've been given such little grace. So what ends up happening is, excuse my language, I mean, we curse on this podcast, what ends up happening is what we ended up saying is, what we ended up saying is, what we like Nick, fuck you. And now everybody's mad. So I guess having said all of that, the next question is, how do we avoid scenarios like this in the first place? What has happened between the black community and the Jewish community where it seems as if we're further apart than we've ever been?

Because this wasn't the only time we ran into this last summer. there was a whole weird period there of a couple of weeks or a couple of more where everyone seemed to kind of be stepping into the same thing here. What's going on? So it's so, it's so first of all, it's such a great point. And I want to say two things. One is, I think what you're describing when you say, right, like we don't want people to just take our grace for granted. So we don't want to, so in order to make sure that we model that, we don't want to take. other people's grace for granted either. I get that. I get that. I think part of the problem, though,

is there's like a double standard that communities like ours operate under, which is when you're a majority community, so you naturally tolerate and you expect everybody else to tolerate your imperfect heroes. So, you know, if you're like a, you know, if you're just like a regular American, I think like your average American, yeah, right. If you're like an average white American, I think like, I think it makes sense to you to say, okay, like Thomas Jefferson was like

a slaveholder and like an evil man in that respect. And yeah. He also wrote the declaration of you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, like the Declaration of Independence is like a major achievement in the history of human civilization, right?

And you're used to being like, okay, our heroes are imperfect, right? minority communities don't get that kind of tolerance, right? We don't get that kind of, that kind of, you know, excuse or second chance or like that kind of grace. People expect our heroes to be perfect. And if they're not, we get punished for it. Like my grandfather was a major, rabble, he was the president of university, a major theologian, a guy who gave incredible sermons, right?

My Norman Lamb, we lost them, unfortunately, this year to COVID. My teacher, he said that once, you know, like about, the Black Panthers. You know, he said, like, if my community doesn't stand up against being demonized, no one will stand up first. So we got to do it. On the other hand, or not on the other hand, like at the very same time, it seems to me that if you're in a community and you have a force in the community that's saying like, hey, pull yourself up, pull yourself together, you know, get your life straight, have dignity, be proud of your heritage, be proud of where you come from and where you're going. That's really powerful. And a community shouldn't be expected to have

perfect heroes. Just like the majority community gets to have imperfect heroes, minority communities should get to have imperfect heroes. Now, how that squares with like at the same time, you have to worry about how you interact with other minority communities, I'm not sure. I don't know. Like, I haven't worked it out fully. But it does seem to me so important that minority communities should get to have imperfect heroes. And by the way, that's the, That's just straight out of the Bible. I'm the thing of King David, right? Like, this is a man who's, who's, like, entire career is everything he says is designed to advance

his political career. He's, you know, he's messing around with a married woman, all these things. And it's only that moment where for the first time that he, the first time that he ever says something that's not designed to advance his political career is after, you know, the child from that union that like, you know, adulterous union with Bathsheba is conceived and then dies and he gets up after mourning to death and he says, he's not coming back to me. I'm going back to him. And it's that moment when he just realizes that, yeah, I messed up. I'm imperfect. I sinned. I did something bad. That's when he becomes a hero. Right. It's not when he was,

everybody thought he was perfect and he beats Goli. Like, it's not when he was, everybody thought he was perfect that he becomes a hero. It's when he realizes he's imperfect that he becomes a hero. And we need some kind of language in this country and some kind of framework, moral framework, that allows minority communities to have imperfect heroes, well, at the same time, policing boundaries with other minority communities. I don't know what the way is to work that out, but there must be some way. See what I'm saying?

Well, I was just going to say, you say you don't know how it is to work it out. And it makes me wonder how we got here, right? Because what you learn is like in the 50s and 60s, Jewish people and black people were working together. You know, Jewish people were sitting in at lunch counters. They were joining the bus boycott. They were marching. They were registering black people to vote.

And so maybe it's how did we get here? Maybe understanding that. Yeah, that's amazing question. Right. That was the other thing I wanted to say. I was trying to remember. Right. That's excellent question, which is that history is amazing.

And it's really impressive and it's stirring and it's moving. Like I look back, you know, like I look back at sermons, like my grandfather, the Shabbas, like the Sabbath, the Saturday after the March on Washington, my grandfather gives this like incredible sermon where he like denounces racism as like the original idolatry of America. It's unbelievable. It's really amazing. What I feel like has sort of happened is, again, that distinction between fate and destiny. which is we our two communities haven't yet articulated any common ground that isn't hiding from a threat. Right. So like even fighting for civil rights, it's like a precondition to anything else, 100%.

But it can't only be that. Like if we haven't articulated any positive values about like what do we stand for in this country. And I have some ideas about what that is. But like, if we haven't articulated anything that we stand for, then it's only a matter of time before that cooperation dissipates naturally. Right. Because if you're only held together by an external threat, then of course. And by the way, I'll add, I think that the usually when you see like black Jewish alliances in this country, like they're all wonderful and I support them all. They're amazing.

but it's usually like it's usually like between people in the black community who like have a really strong sense of like identity, community, history, we know where we've been and we know where we're going. And the kind of Jews that are usually involved, who I love,

their brothers and sisters are amazing. Like they're not usually the kind of people who are like in synagogue three times a day like really invested in the Jewish past and thinking carefully and deeply about the Jewish future. studying the Torah or whatever it is. And because that, these partnerships tend to be thinner than I think they should be. And part of the challenge, what's the barrier to that? I think the barrier is

that in both of our communities, the worst stereo, I mean, I can't speak for other communities. But my impression would be that to the extent that they're bad stereotypes about Jews and the black community, the more, the worst stereotypes are about the most, like, observant, like, outwardly and visibly observant people. And in the Jewish community, you have the same thing, which is they're probably the further kind of like to the right and left are like bad terms, but like the more observant along the spectrum you go, more likely it is you're going to find like bad stereotypes about the black community. But my, my strong belief is that these stereotypes, much like these bad stereotypes, much like the good stereotypes that we had about each other in like the

50s and 60s and whatever, are very weak and thin and surface deep because they're not based on real interaction, right? The partnership wasn't based on a deep interaction and the friction isn't based on real interaction. So if we wanted to think about what would like a real exciting, amazing, totally transformational black Jewish alliance look like, I think it would be people from both communities who are really invested in their history and their future and their traditions and their communities coming together

and doing the hard work of saying like, okay, we have it really partnered in a thick, real way in the past. And but at the same time, the way that we're like budding heads in the present also isn't based on something like deep and thick and considered. So like how do we articulate, some common values, something that we can causes that we can both champion together, whether it's like

universal human dignity, the idea that everyone in this country is created, everyone in the world is created in the image of God and how that implies that we should fight against racism and fight for justice in this country. Like it has to be based on something real, not just like, leave me alone, don't hurt me, but like we actually all have this common divine image in each other. Like, what are the things that our communities and only our

communities can champion? I think that's the basis for this. Mm. Mm. All right. All right. We're about to get out of here. Plug something before you go.

Where can we hear more of this stuff, man? Where can we hear more of these cultural observations from the great Arnand? Who, by the way, I'm going to be on his podcast. What is it, Wednesday? That's right. I'm excited. Wednesday, I'm going to come on Rabbi Ari's podcast. Where can we hear more of this stuff?

Actually, just plug and tell them what we're going to be on. So all the higher learning listeners can come over there and kind of do the things. Yeah, come on. My podcast is called Good Faith Effort. You can find that on Apple, Stitcher, you know, anywhere you get Spotify, you got Spotify, anywhere you get podcasts. And we talk about how the ideas and values the Bible impact all the most important and urgent conversations that we're having in American life from pop culture to politics and beyond. So check out Good Faith effort and Van's going to be there. It's amazing. And Rachel, I get you on also. It's amazing. And you could find, and the stuff that, Kind of stuff I'm talking about here. Building positive values, like really rejuvenating, like the civic and spiritual health of this country and the people in it. What we're building is called the Joshua Project. So you could find all that at the Joshua Project.com where we're building these resources and trying to articulate, like, what would a positive common destiny for people in this country look like? Not based on fear, not based on fate, not based on what we're running from, but what we're running towards.

So come join us. Rabbi Ari. You're amazing. You're amazing, man. Thank you so much for joining us, brother. I will see you Wednesday. And we'll talk then. Love you guys.

Love the thought warriors. Keep it up. All right, my brother. Thank you so much. Well, look, man, Rabbi Ari said it best right there. I don't really have too much else to add. Look, Rachel, kind of a weird week. Just starting off.

I know it's only Monday, but it feels weird. I was going to say it's only Monday. It's true. I feel, I don't know if I feel weird. Why do you feel weird? Are you okay? I don't know. Yeah, I feel, I feel okay.

I feel like we're starting it off right because this has been a really good podcast. Really good podcast. Right? Some great guests. Adam Schiff, Rabbi Ari, appreciate you guys, both, man. We did a lot of work. You guys, open your minds. Listen to these people.

Look, Weedy Roast is back Thursday. Matt James, people are saying they want more Bachelor talk. I'll give this episode a robust watch and then make sure that I hold Matt James' feet to the flame. Rachel has some Bachelor news that I don't think you're going to break on this podcast, but you have inside news on something, don't you, something very important? I have inside news. I always have inside news, which is why sometimes I have the opinions that I do when people get upset with me, because I got the inside scoop. She's got the inside scoop. Yeah, big news coming up in a Bachelor Nation.

Big news coming to Professor Lynch. Okay. Take the thing caps off, but do not stop learning. Our learning is finished for today. I am Van Lathen. I'm Rachel Lindsay. We out.